


Burdened Slave

by writegood



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Elseworlds, Gen, Hokage Uchiha Fugaku, Islamic References, Not About Slavery, Science Fiction, first draft, not a self-insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26257426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writegood/pseuds/writegood
Summary: A person from another planet wakes up to pain. He lives in a world that fights for very different purposes. A system cursed with an unbroken cycle of hatred. For better or for worse, his presence changes many things. He can only balance hope and fear; for when his life reaches its true end, that he can achieve Peace without Judgement and avoid Hell.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. I said I won't post this to Ao3 and wait until I rewrite it and go through myself-discovered writing stages. But ffnets acting for me and I'm afraid that the site might die, so I'm making sure my old fans can still find me. And who knows, maybe new fans will endure my writing.
> 
> To those new, the first fourteen chapters of this thing are all written and posted from ffnet. I want to be regular with updates, but I can't promise anything.

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 1**

"He's beautiful!" her younger sister, Hana, exclaimed.

This child, unlike all the others, was the most difficult of all. During the birthing, she somehow ended up on her back.

Uchiha women were strong. Unlike civilians, the women of the Uchiha, as well as some of the other clans, gave birth to their children while on their hands and knees. The weak, in her opinion, civilians give birth to their children while laying on their backs. Those same civilians also happen to waste whatever little medical resources they have in the village by going to the hospital for their births.

Uchiha Chifuyu had much scorn for the civilians of her village. What with most of them doing nothing but lazing about while the Uchiha protected them within the walls of Konoha and countless shinobi died for them in the war outside.

Her younger brother, Fugaku, and her had many arguments due to her views. However, that's neither here nor there. No, mere moments ago she had been giving birth to her—what? Eighth? Ninth? She couldn't quite remember at that moment. She was, of course, mildly surprised that she had ended up on her back—like  _ those _ civilians. She didn't remember how it had happened either.

_ There's a first time for everything I guess. _

With some cushions added behind her for support she didn't really need, she reached her hands out to pluck her most recent son.

_ Well, at least he's not bawling his head out like the rest of his brothers did. _

She lightly pokes the baby's cheek.

"He's so quiet," her sister sounded in awe.

_ Too quiet. _

It was not unusual for Uchiha children to come out of the womb and remain quiet. In fact, most children, since before the Warring States Period, made little sound at all. This had aided in the survival of the clan—besides many of the Uchiha warriors being forces of nature, a pregnant woman couldn’t always be protected at all times—and continued through the Warring States until now. However, all of Chifuyu's children seemed to have been an exception among the whole clan. All of them cried and screamed for almost the entire village to hear.

It's a nice change that her most recent born is so quiet—but even the quietest of children make some kind of sound. She could see her newborn breathing, but her ears could not pick up any sound. It was as if he was in a bubble and no sound could escape.

"So, nee-sama, what are you going to name him?"

Hana, who was a few years younger than her, had acted as Chifuyu's midwife ever since Chifuyu was ten and had her firstborn. With her sister's medical training, Chifuyu couldn't ask for better help. Her sister even stood in for her as her personal wet nurse when Chifuyu was called for high-stake political or assasination missions outside the village.

"Hmm..." Chifuyu continued to softly poke her newborn's cheek distractedly. She knew she probably should be feeding him now—but there seemed to be something a bit off about the day. Beyond the quietness of her child. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was in a dream at that moment.

_ An Illusion. _ Some distant and muted part of her screamed.

"I have to think about it." Chifuyu responded to her sister’s question.

"Nee-sama!" Hana cried as if scandalised. "Don't tell me you forgot to think about a name again?"

She was about to retort when her sister continued. "I mean, you had nearly a whole year to think about it."

_ So annoying. Leave me alone! _

Chifuyu sighed. "Hana-chan, go tell Ichirou to send one of his brothers to Fugaku's house,"

Hana stared at the ground from where she sat. Her raven black hair covered any expression that might have been seen.

Chifuyu rolled her eyes. Her sister had always been a sensitive one. "Have them send word of our dearest new member, Haru-chan."

Hana sniffed before slowly she looked up. A tender smile on her face.

"Oh, then have him draw some invitation letters to Maboroshi Rin-sama and Uzumaki Kushina for dinner—tomorrow at noon,” Chifuyu added.

"Okay, nee-sama. I'll be back to cut that and clean the mess here," her sister said, indicating the still attached umbilical cord as Chifuyu's iron and chakra rich blood flowed through it. The Uchiha had long believed that delaying the cutting of the umbilical cord helps to ensure that their children grow into strong and healthy warriors.

She watched her sister get up to go speak with her second to last child who had been sitting just outside the door. Her Ichirou had been quite agitated the whole time she was pushing Haru out, she couldn’t help but get distracted with her son’s energy while in mid-birth. Just as Hana was sliding the door open, Chifuyu felt her arms go numb as a foreign power rampaged up her spine.

Her eyes snapped to the child in her arms. His own eyes were wide open. Black irides and a blossoming red rose in the centre.

_ Mangekyo?! _

Her arms lost all their strength and she watched as Haru tumbled to the ground from her sitting position. A foot sticking out of the blanket the baby was wrapped in. All tiny and wrinkled. Tangled in the yet to be cut umbilical cord.

That was the last thing Uchiha Chifuyu saw before darkness overtook her.

**A/N:** Maboroshi Rin is not Nohara Rin with a different last name. Nope. Maboroshi is actually an OC clan that was inspired from a few sources. I am not going to mention said sources yet :)

**Edit 28-06-2020:** Sorry to those who may be receiving this update. It isn’t anything major, I just fixed some typos and added some missing information that had accidentally been deleted from my original chapter. Mainly just some small worldbuilding, I hope that's the term, on the Uchiha clan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Itachi, you have a new cousin coming to this world today," Uchiha Mikoto said to her one-year-old son who stood next to her.

She was in the kitchen washing dishes and some water splashed out of the sink right onto her son's face.

Itachi just blinked at the water. "How?"

"Hmm?"

"How's he coming to this world?"

She looked down at him and chuckled. She used her apron to quickly dry the water drops on his face.

"Itachi, do you remember your Hana-obasan?"

Itachi's face, like the full moon, filled with light.

"I love Hana-oba!" he stated.

"Very good Itachi." she gave a closed eye smile. Itachi copied her.

"Well, her sister, your Chifuyu-obasan, is having a baby."

"Really?"

"Mhm." she nodded. "And, we are going to visit them tomorrow morning."

* * *

Itachi lay on his futon that night. Blanket draped over the lower half of his body. His sight stuck on the ceiling above him.

He then rolled to one side.

Rolled to the other side. Grinned.

Rolled back again. Giggled.

Then rolled onto his back and kicked off his blanket.

He was excited. He was going to see Hana again.

Though, he was slightly curious about his new cousin.

_ Will Hana-oba love my new cousin more than she loves me? _

* * *

The next morning, Itachi sat in front of his breakfast. A single, tiny, rice ball remained in the middle of his plate.

He quickly put the rice ball in his mouth and started chewing. Just then, he heard the front door open.

"Hana-chan," he heard his mother greet. He jumped up onto his feet. "We were getting ready to come over to you guys's house,"

Itachi started walking. His mother continued. "How was Chifuyu-san's birthing?"

"Mikoto-san ... about that—"

When Itachi heard Hana's voice, he couldn't walk slowly anymore. His excitement clear, he broke into a run. When he saw Hana standing in the doorway with his mother, he called out. "Hana-oba!"

"Itachi?" his mother spoke, her voice wavered, as she turned to him.

He ran and jumped into a hug with Hana. "Did you come over to play?"

Hana chuckled, but there was something strange about it. She returned the hug before setting him on the ground. She bent over so they were closer in height.

He noticed a look in her eyes that he didn't understand. She looked like she might have been crying.

"Forgive me, Itachi..." Hana reached two fingers out and lightly poked his forehead. "Maybe another time."

* * *

"Kaa-san , why does tou-san look sad?"

They were wearing black like all the other people. Itachi's father was in front of the room, while his mother and him were in the back.

"Itachi," his mother whispered to him. "Your Chifuyu-obasan died four days ago, after giving birth to your new cousin."

Itachi's eyes widened. A light hand was then placed on his shoulders and he looked back. It was Hana. She was wearing a sling and there was a small lump in it. "Come Itachi, let's go outside."

"Are you sure, Hana?" his mother asked.

"Please Mikoto-san, I can't stay in here."

His mother just nodded.

Hana took Itachi's hand and they went outside. The birds were chirping, the early spring trees bloomed.

She let go of his hand and turned to look at him.

"Itachi," she smiled, closing her eyes slightly.

He knew deep down she was faking it, but he did not really understand.

She sat on the dirty ground. Her face in line with his. "Do you want to see your cousin?"

She opened the sling she had on. A small sleeping face could be seen. "His name is Haru,"

Itachi looked back at her. She still had the same expression on. "Hana-oba, are you sad?"

The expression vanished. Her eyes widening. Then Itachi surprised her by, careful of Haru, putting his arms around her neck.

They stayed there for a while. Itachi soon notices his shirt becoming increasingly wet at the shoulders.

* * *

**One Year Later**

"Good job Itachi," his father spoke to his two-year-old son. "we'll continue your training tomorrow,"

They went inside the house and were greeted with the smell for cooking.

"Itachi," he heard his name whispered from Hana's room. She had moved in with them a couple months ago. He saw her beckoning him to come.

When he entered her room, she guided him to the futon Haru was sleeping on. "Do you mind watching him while I go speak with your parents?"

Itachi nodded.

She closed the door and left Haru and him alone. He watched the supine form. After a few minutes, his cousin opened his eyes and looked at him.

Itachi watched as Haru sat up and turned his small form to fully face the older boy. They sat there for a while just staring at each other. Then, Haru smiled. He stood up, stretched out an arm, and patted Itachi's head.

Itachi blinked.

_ Haru is strange. _

Time moved on. Haru eventually joined Itachi in his training sessions. 

"Good job Haru, Itachi. You two have made leaps and bounds." Fugaku complemented.

Later that day, both boys found themselves watching the sunset. "Itachi,"

"Hm?" Itachi looked over at his cousin.

"Do you ever wonder how long it takes for sunlight to reach this world?"

Itachi just blinks.

_ Haru is strange. _

* * *

A few months after Itachi turned three, he joined his father on a trip to the front-lines of the Third Shinobi war. 

It was horrible.

So, much blood. Itachi tried to save someone who had been dying, but they chose to attack instead.

As a result— "I killed the Shinobi to save myself," Itachi recounted.

"You didn't want to, I take it," Haru said.

Itachi nodded. "Father says that because this is war, Shinobi kill each other senselessly."

"That is only natural."

"But why, why must there be war Haru?"

"Life is nothing but a test, war is but an extension of that."

Itachi furrowed his eyebrows. "Haru, you make no sense."

* * *

**Current Time**

Itachi held tightly onto Sasuke as everyone ran. A great roar filled the night.

"Tou-san!"

"Itachi, I knew you would be alright," his father stated.

"B-but Haru!"

"Where is he?"

"I saw him get caught in an explosion."

Fugaku closed his eyes. "I see."

"But he survived, tou-san,"

Fugaku's eyes snapped open. "What?"

"He survived, but instead of coming with me ran that way," he pointed behind him.

Fugaku's eyes changed into crimson. "Itachi, get your brother to the shelter."

"The rest of you with me!" he barked out. They disappeared in a flash.

* * *

**2021-01-26:** Edited to fix confusing chronology. It’s very tempting to replace this whole chapter, but I’m keeping it for this early version of the story. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Fugaku had counted himself the happiest man alive despite all the tragedies he has endured. He sometimes felt guilty being happy, with a war raging outside his village. Countless comrades dying. That feeling of guilt never lasted for too long, though. First he learns his wife became pregnant. Then he receives a son as a first born. Then he learns his older sister is pregnant. He was looking forward to being an uncle after having become a father.

Just like guilt, though, happiness cannot stay consistent. One day, he had come back from leading some of his best friends to their deaths. It was that day his younger sister, Hana, had placed a young child in his arms. Haru, she said his name was. The son of their older sibling. The sibling that had died two days prior.

Now, a few years later, his first born, Itachi, holding his second born son, tells him that his nephew is headed towards an ancient and powerful beast. Only death could follow from that decision and Fugaku could not let that happen. Not only for Chifuyu, but also as clan head, he could not allow the death of the only Uchiha ever to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan at birth.

He, along with three of his clansmen, stood on top of the wall that surrounded Konoha. A gaping tear in said wall from the Sandaime pushing the titanic beast into the surrounding forest.

They could see the many tails of the fox smashing the land around it. Trees were uprooted and shinobi became  _ blood brethren _ to said uprooted trees.

A fireball erupted from far beneath the great fox. Dread soon filled Fugaku as he saw Hana execute their clan specialty. Only for it to hit the fox with barely an affect. Hana was thrown into the air as the fox brought one of its tails down near her. Fugaku watched as another tail cut through the air. It would have struck her if not for Haru suddenly appearing over her. Grabbing her in an embrace, the two disappeared.

Fugaku frantically scanned the forest below them and spotted the two reappear in a tree not far from the rampaging beast.

"Go help them!" he barked to the three next to him. "I will help fight the Kyubi."

"Captain?" all three began to protest.

"Go!"

They immediately flickered away.

He then took one look at the fox and closed his eyes. What he was about to do, he could not let the rest of his clan find out. Even more so the village for whom he fought. When he opened his eyes, it was that of dark, slicing blades against red. It was within seconds that he received his chance. With a single muttered word, everything stilled. "Tsukuyomi!"

* * *

Everyone decided to follow the Kyubi in its stillness. The night quietened as all nine tails rested on the ground and the fox simply stood. No roaring. No death. Only silence.

"Fugaku," a hand lightly placed on his shoulder. "Thank you,"

Fugaku looked over his shoulder at the blond. He simply grunted in response.

"How long can you hold it?" the man asked.

"Thirty more seconds," Fugaku replied. "Do you have a plan?"

The blond haired man nodded. "Yes, but I have something to tell you first."

"Make it quick!"

"This attack was planned,"

"What?"

"A man with a mask, claiming to be Uchiha Madara summoned the Kyubi,"

"Madara is dead,"

"I know," Minato replied. "But this man had a Sharingan and was able to control the Kyubi."

"I see,"

"Fugaku, others in the village know of the Sharingan's power. If I do not make it back, make sure to tell them about our conversation,"

With that, Minato disappeared into the night and with him he took the Kyubi no Yoko. The forest in front of the Konoha wall filled only with the blood of dying Shinobi. As the seconds flew by, the Kyubi's roar could be heard in the far distance.

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"Look Haru, see what tou-san taught me today," Itachi said, going through a string of seals.

_ Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! _

The air over the lake parted and what didn't get out of the way fast enough was consumed by a searing heat. Oranges flames spread and formed a giant roaring ball. A few seconds later, Itachi breaks the technique and the ball shrinks. Small pieces of fire dance away before disappearing.

Itachi turned his dark eyes to Haru. The edges of his mouth turned upwards. "Your turn."

Haru steps forward and brings his hands up to go through the seals. He stops. His hands falling to his sides.

"Haru?"

"I don't like seals,"

"Huh?" eyes widen.

"They make me feel uncomfortable,"

"Why?" eyebrows bunch together.

Silence spread over them. Haru's eyes turn towards the sky.

"The universe is so big, Itachi,"

"Yes, Haru," Itachi's gaze turns towards the sky as well.

"There's a very good reason why I can't use seals,"

"But?" Itachi asks.

"But I can't remember,"

Itachi sighs. He then steps in front of his cousin and waits for his gaze to meet his own. It's been a few days since the Kyubi attack and Itachi is glad Haru made it out safely. Though, his cousin is as strange as he's always been.

Slowly, Haru's gaze locks with Itachi's. Itachi could tell that his cousin has entered that strange state again. His cousin's eyes look so deep and he feels as if Haru is looking at something far away. Slowly, but surely his cousin comes back.

"Haru, how will you do ninjutsu without seals?"

"I saw kaa-san doing jutsu without seals the other day," Haru states. "Besides, I felt your chakra when you executed that jutsu earlier."

"You felt my chakra?"

"Mm..." Haru nodded. "I don't understand why chakra reacts the way it does to seals, but I suspect with that with some focus, it will respond to what is on your mind."

Itachi steps to the side and tilts his head as he hears his cousin mutter some words he couldn't understand.

With that, his cousin's small chest puffed up with inhaled air. Soon afterwards, everything above the lake was eaten up by flames. It kept growing and growing. Spreading flatly far and wide. Uncontrolled, unlike the fireball Itachi had made. Itachi's hair was blowing violently in the heated wind. Just as he was going to ask his cousin to stop, the flames began to lessen. Haru looked back to Itachi.

"Haru, I don't think that was the right jutsu."

* * *

"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha clan will not stand for Danzo's disrespect!"

"Fugaku," the old Hokage closed his eyes. "I understand your feelings, but my old teammate only has the village's best interest at heart,"

"I find that hard to believe,"

Hiruzen let out a frustrated breath. "Fugaku, the village needs the Uchiha clan more than ever. Especially with this  _ masked man _ running about somewhere out there,"

Fugaku took a seat in his chair once more, letting the old Hokage continue.

"Please continue to lend Konohagakure the strength of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku, and in a couple of years, once things have started to settle down, I will put my full support behind you as the fifth Hokage!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

The break room was filled with the sound of shuffling paper and Academy teachers slurping their coffee. Some of the teachers were preparing for yet another day of dealing with slacking, sniveling, farting, and noisy little demons. Others in the room, were preparing to enter the dens of geniuses and prodigies who made them question who the teachers were again.

One man, though, was a perfectly content and jovial fellow. His class was, what you might call, just right. A lovely balance between good and bad students. Daikoku was very happy with the current peaceful state of things. Not having to deal with stresses that could make a person wish the era was a bit more  _ violent _ once again.

In those times, they had to deal with the demons called children only from a few months to a couple of years. Now, for the foreseeable future, they had to deal with them ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week, for six to seven whole years. Possibly even more for the lazy ones and dead lasts.

Yeah, Daikoku could see why that could be stressful. He even pitied some of the other teachers. He didn't know what he would do in their positions, but he was content nonetheless with his own class.

He was able to, on rare occasions, select which students enter his class. An honor only few Academy teachers are granted.

What he really enjoys, though, aside from observing the funny quirks of the next generation, is teaching them how to actually survive for the tomorrow.

"Hey Daikoku, I hear you're getting a new Uchiha in your class."

"Really?" a woman asked before Daikoku was able to reply. "Is he cute like Itachi-chan was?"

"Oi, Suki," a man across the way drawled out. "no one said the Uchiha was a boy."

"Yeah, Suki!" a woman stood to glare down at Suki. "Besides, you're a grown woman. You shouldn't go around traumatising little boys the way you do!"

Daikoku, knowing what was about to come, simply smiled and nodded, edging towards the door the next instant.

He sighed once he was clear down the hall. The room he had just escaped had erupted into the routine morning argument.

Eventually he reached his own classroom. Sliding the door open, he strode in. He placed the stack of papers he had been carrying neatly on his desk. He then walked to the large windows that lined the wall opposite of the door.

He stared down at the academy's training ground before he looked up at the sky. He watched the sky brighten, enjoying the quiet of the morning. Eventually soft yellow sunlight started to hit the training grounds.

Daikoku turned around and froze.

"Hey, there. I didn't see you."

Truth was, he did not even sense anyone was in the room with him.

Opposite of him, in a second row desk along the wall near the exit, sat a kid. The boy's large dark eyes staring into his. Equally dark hair framing a pale face. A scar was slightly visible on the boy's neck. It started below his chin, just missing his throat, and went down to be hidden by the collar of his dark blue shirt.

Both of the boy's hands lay flat on the desk. His posture straight. The Uchiha insignia was on the shoulder of his long sleeved shirt.

Daikoku smiled. There was no doubt about it. He matched perfectly Danzo's description of him.

"Good morning," he greeted. For it indeed was a good morning. "You must be Uchiha Haru."

* * *

Throughout that day, Daikoku kept an eye on the new Uchiha. All the new students he received never interacted with others. Which was usual for first days, but something that always changed as time went on. Well, for most of his students.

The next morning, he found Haru, once again, early and sitting in his self-assigned desk. It was a good thing that no one was sitting there already, otherwise Daikoku would have had to find Haru a new place to sit.

Over the next two weeks, Daikoku found himself going to his classroom earlier and earlier. Haru was always there first, sitting quietly. Never broaching much conversation.

Daikoku had entirely moved his morning routine into his classroom after the first week. He even found himself coming to the academy before the other teachers. Haru, always being in the classroom when he got there.

He also found himself trying to draw comparisons between Haru and his former prodigy of a student, Itachi.

Like Itachi, Haru always beat everyone in spars, he excelled in target practice, and always kept to himself.

Unlike his former student, though, whenever Haru was approached by someone or was spoken to, he smiled.

When it came to quizzes, Daikoku always slipped Haru progressively harder sheets. Then, during one normally silent morning, he decided to give Haru a copy of a previous written graduation exam.

That led the two to their current staring contest. Two weeks from when Haru entered the class. At the end of the day when all students were gone. This was the moment he decided to test a theory that he would not have thought about if not for Itachi.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Daikoku reached out and pinched Haru's cheek.

All his student did was blink.

After a few more moments of staring, he finally sighed.

"Alright, Haru, you can dispel now,"

A few intense moments passed where Daikoku was pretty sure he was the only one who felt the tension. Then, one end of Haru's mouth lifted in a smirk.

The next thing Daikoku knew, the area his student once occupied was empty. A smokeless and soundless dispelling of a shadow clone.

"Damn..." was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

Haru and Itachi may be similar, but he knew one thing for certain.

_ Haru is no Itachi. _

* * *

The wooden cane struck the floor of the Hokage's office as Danzo came to a stop.

"What do you want, Danzo?"

"Fugaku-sama, I hear your nephew is quite the prodigy,"

Fugaku frowned and leaned over his desk. "Is there a reason you're watching my nephew?"

"Talent always attracts me, Fugaku- _ sama _ , especially talent that can graduate two weeks after joining the Academy,"

"Danzo, I'm sure you didn't come all this way to speak about my nephew,"

"Perhaps," Danzo said. Half ignoring the new Hokage's statement. "I want to take the young Uchiha under my tutelage,"

"No,"

Danzo stood for a few seconds in silence before turning his back.

"Very well, Fugaku-sama, I hope you reconsider,"

Just as Danzo was about to leave, Fugaku spoke up.

"Danzo,"

Said man stopped.

"It's Hokage-sama," Fugaku said. "make sure to remember that."

Slowly Danzo turned his face. A cold smirk could be seen.

"Of course,  _ Hokage-sama _ ."


	6. Chapter 6

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"So, how old are you again?" Uchiha Shisui asked. He stood in front of his kid cousin and it wasn't Itachi. Said kid cousin had been standing quietly in front of him with a small smile.

"Six," came the reply.

"Right..." Shisui said before drifting in thought. "I remember Itachi saying you were a year younger than him."

No response. His cousin's smile did not waver.

_ Geez... this kid's creeping me out! _

"So," Shisui started and clapped his hands loudly just to see what his cousin's reaction was going to be. Which happened to be nothing at all. "Haru. I hear you graduated the Academy two weeks after joining,"

He got nothing but the continued smile in return. So Shisui continued. "That's got to be a record. You're a genius Haru, you know that?"

"I was dropped when I was a baby," Haru stated in a matter-of-fact way.

Shisui was taken aback. "Was that a joke?"

No reply. Shisui sighed.  _ Time to get a bit more serious, Shisui. _

"Hokage-sama has placed you under me until a genin team is found for you," Shisui said and then pointed at his own chest with his thumb. "So, until then, you're stuck with me."

"I understand," Haru replied.

"So, I've got to know, what's it like living with Itachi?"

"What do you mean?" Haru asked.

"Well, what do you guys do?"

"We train a lot, read books, and..." Haru started to list things off.

"Stop!" Shisui put his hand in front of Haru's face.

And, so Haru stopped.

"I mean, what do you guys do for fun?" Shisui clarified.

"Well, Itachi has been busy with his team and mostly preoccupied with Sasuke when at home, but sometimes we eat sweets while watching the stars," Haru answered.

"Stargazing? Really?" Shisui asked incredulously. Then started mumbling to himself. "Well at least that's something I didn't learn about when I tried getting info out of Itachi,"

"Why are you so curious about Itachi?"

"Well," Shisui started. "I'm also curious about you, since I asked about you both,"

"That didn't really answer my question," Haru stated.

"I guess not," Shisui paused thoughtfully. "Itachi's my friend and while we both share a dream, I sometimes worry how his future will look like. That's why I want to find out how good his present is and how to make it even better,"

"You're a good friend then," Haru said.

"So are you from what I've gathered," Shisui said. "Itachi seems very fond of you,"

"Itachi is like a little brother to me," Haru stated. Face still bare of anything but that smile.

Shisui blinked and had to process the words for a moment. When it finally clicked, he doubled over in laughter. He wiped some tears from his eyes. "Man! This guy...!"

After he calmed down a few minutes later he spoke again. "So, Haru, for the next week, you and I are going to do some light sparring. Enough for me to get a handle on your skills. Then, I'll take you on a few missions outside the village. I know you'll get bored out of your mind with the D-ranks once you're assigned to a team. Any questions?"

Haru shook his head and that was that.

* * *

"Hokage-sama," Shisui bowed.

Fugaku looked up from reading an intelligence report on Kumogakure.

"Report," he grunted.

"Hai," Shisui began. "Uchiha Haru is very skilled, which is to be expected seeing as you were the one who trained him."

Shisui went on to provide a detailed evaluation of Haru based on the week he spent with the kid. After a while, Shisui ended up just rambling about this and that.

"Honestly, I think he might be a bit less boring than Itachi," Shisui said uncertainly. "Maybe... I'm not quite sure yet—actually, yeah, I'm totally not sure. I think Haru has a very interesting sense of humour and—"

"Shisui," Fugaku cut the boy off. A bit annoyed at the time taken up by the boy's report. "I have never known my nephew to have a sense of humour. If he said something you thought was funny, he was probably being very serious."

A few seconds of silence fell between the two. Shisui's eyebrows scrunched together.

"So," Shisui began with a bit of uncertainty. "Haru wasn't joking when he said he'd been dropped when he was a baby?"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long stretch of time with no update. Real life's been getting to me.

Anyway, I've updated the previous chapters with various edits and some additional details. Especially the first chapter as I think it could be better. I am still looking for a beta. For those of you wondering, I do actually have a plot in mind and do where I want to go with this story. In fact, I had shared part of it with one of my reviewers. Thanks for being interested.


	7. Chapter 7

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"Haruno Kizas hi," the mustached man said as extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'll be accompanying you guys for the next two days."

Haru quickly shook the man's hands before letting them rest at his sides once again. Harue made sure to give a small, closed-mouth, smile.

They stood at the front gates waiting to leave. Kizashi kept throwing glances at the smiling kid next to him.

"So, I think Shisui-san will be here soon," Kizashi said, trying to start a conversation. "We are a bit early, but it's a lovely morning, isn't it?"

Haru allowed his smile to grow a bit larger.

Kizashi took that as his reply. The man shifted a bit on his feet before standing still.

After a few minutes, Kizashi once again tried to strike up a conversation. " _ Sooo _ ... I'm guessing you're an early graduate with no team. You've gotta be quite skilled then. That means you won't stay a genin for long... unlike me."

After a pause and a glance to see what the kid's response might be, which was nothing impressive, he continued. "Not that being genin is bad. No  _ sirree _ . I'm happy with the lower ranked jobs I get. Brings in the money to support my family while being relatively low risk. Almost a guarantee I get to see my family again afterwards. I don't want to think what my wife would do to me if I go to the afterlife before her and she catches up to me. Plus, I don't want to leave our little girl just yet."

Silence fell.

Kizashi was about to sigh when he heard the kid speak.

"You have a daughter?" Haru asked.

Kizashi looked down once more to see the strangest expression he'd ever seen on a child. The kid had a far away, almost vacant, look. The boy's smile had disappeared. The older man just couldn't decipher what it meant. He was a bit worried that he might've broken the  _ not-so-mute _ kid with all his talking, but he was going to answer the kid's question.

"Yep," the man smiled. "Her name's Sakura and she's two years old as of yesterday,"

"Sakura..." the kid muttered. "Like your hair?"

Kizashi raised an eyebrow at this. He usually styled his hair after a cherry blossom, but no one but his wife figured out he based his own daughter's name off of it. Everyone who saw his daughter would probably think he based it off actual cherry blossoms due to her own hair and its colour.

Before the man had a chance to reply, though, the kid smiled and turned his face away from the older man.

_ It's final!  _ Kizashi decided. Nay, he vowed right then and there to himself that by the end of this mission he'd get the kid to put more teeth into his smiles and get him to be more talkative. More importantly, though...

"You know what? I'll introduce you to her after we come back." Kizashi said. "I'm sure she'd be happy to make another friend, though, you're probably too old to want to waste time playing with little kids... am I right?"

Silence.

Kizashi was definitely going to make this kid more talkative too. However, in that moment he was rewarded with a reply.

"It's alright," Haru said distractedly. "I sometimes play with Sasuke,"

"It's settled then!" Kizashi beamed, not thinking to ask who Sasuke was. "By the way, what's your name?"

Silence.

More silence.

Kizashi glanced at the kid and saw that he was staring beyond the gate. His eyes still contained a vacant look, but his face frozen with that smile.

"You alright kid?"

Kizashi was about to reach out to put his hands on the boy's shoulder, but then the air was displaced near him. There, to his side, stood the famed young chunin, Shunshin no Shisui.

"His name's Uchiha Haru," Shisui spoke. "One of my cute little cousins."

Shisui then walked to stand face to face with his young cousin. "You two are a bit early, but I guess we can start,"

Haru gave a simple and short nod. He then ran around Shisui and out of the village's gates and took to the trees.

"Did I say something wrong?" Kizashi asked as the two of them remained inside the gates and watched Haru go on ahead of them.

"No, I don't think so," Shisui said with some hesitance. "From what I understand, Haru gets like that sometimes. Though, I've never seen it myself. I hear another cousin of mine knows how to handle it better than I ever can."

"I see..." Kizashi said. Before looking at Shisui. "So, you were listening to our conversation the whole time?"

Shisui laughed. " _ Conversation? _ What conversation?"

* * *

The three-man team camped that night. They had a couple more stops the next day before heading to Cha no Kuni to complete the last part of the mission. They were to bring a shipment of tea back to Konoha. An owner of a famous chain of tea houses was opening up a shop in Konoha and had made quite the large order.

Haru was tending to the well-concealed camp fire. Kizashi was pouting near the trees while at the same time watching the kid. He tried, over the course of that day, to get Haru to open up more, but had no success at all. He was beginning to think it was going to take a tad bit longer than this mission to make true to his vow.

Shisui came and sat next to the man.

"Don't be so down about it," Shisui said. "You'll have more than enough time after the mission to work on Haru,"

"I know," Kizashi sighed. "But I was kind of hoping to get him to open up more  _ before _ the mission ends,"

Shisui chuckled. "I'll tell you this. Haru has a peculiar sense of humour. I've experienced it a bit over the week I've been with him."

"Really?" Kizashi asked.

"Yep," Shisui said. "But do me a favour, let me know of any jokes he might tell you. Okay?"

"Sure," Kizashi then looked back at Haru.

He was going to do his best to make Haru a bit more talkative and put more teeth into his smiles. If he can't... well that's fine too. Kizashi knew the kid was a genius and a prodigy. What he also knew was that many times that meant little to no friends. The man knew what loneliness could do to a person.

* * *

After sealing the last of the shipment of tea away, they started on their way back to Konoha. It would have been a quick journey back too, but they just had to have an encounter with group of bandits

This would not normally pose any problem, except a couple of the bandits turned out to be missing-nin in disguise. This quickly led to a kunai in Kizashi's gut.

Shisui quickly teleported the older man a few meters away, checked him over, before he stood to quickly deal with the adversaries.

Of course, it would have been quick and easy for Shisui, but when he turned, he saw his job was already done. Both of them watched as Haru pulled his kunai out of the last of the bandits. All had been effectively neutralised and not in the way Shisui had wanted it to be done either. However, it was too late to complain.

The boy walked up to the two and glanced at Kizashi's wound.

"You are wounded," Haru calmly stated the obvious.

"I'll live," Kizashi said. Weakly smiling. "More importantly, you didn't have to deal with those thugs on your own. We could have handled things."

Haru gave his signature smile before he spoke. "Don't worry Kizashi-san, I'll do my best to try and get you home safely to your daughter."

"W-what?" the older man's eyes widened. "B-but... wait, you just ignored—"

Shisui clapped his hands together before pointing over at the bodies, giving a tight smile. "Well, I'm gonna go see if any of them had a bounty on their heads. Then we'll get you back to the village for medical attention,"

Shisui quickly flashed away leaving Haru and Kizashi alone.

The young boy smiled, but this time added some teeth.

_ Is he trying to make me feel better? _

"Hey!" Kizashi pointed a finger at Haru's face. "That's not gonna count. You better do it again and properly back in the village,"

Haru's smile grew closed-mouth, but it was much wider than his usual smiles. The boy's eyes were filled with mirth.

* * *

**A/N:** That's that for this chapter. Reviews help me improve. Well, that is if the review contains feedback. Let me know your thoughts. Whether you enjoyed it or hated it.

  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

"Haruno Kizashi was mildly injured and was taken to the hospital for treatment upon return," Shisui reported as he stood alone in the Hokage's office. "Uchiha Haru handled the situation  _ well enough _ on his own and dispatched the opposition."

Fugaku nodded. "I'd say he did more than  _ well enough— _ unless you had something else in mind at the time."

Shisui sighed. He had a lot to say to that, but he knew he couldn't. So, he went to the next best thing. "I thought the way the two disguised shinobi moved was suspicious. I had wanted to interrogate at least one of them."

Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "Suspicious how?"

Shisui's expression became like stone. "Perhaps it is best if I showed you."

He reached into the one of the pockets on his vest and took out a single body sealing scroll. He then knelt down to place it on the ground and brought his hand to it's centre to push chakra into it.

A pale, blonde-haired, and shirtless, courtesy of Shisui, corpse suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke. The dead man was preserved as if he had died only an hour ago.

"This is one of them," Shisui spoke. He then rolled the corpse onto its stomach to show a tattoo that was clear on its neck. "He was one of Kumogakure's elite forces. The other one too, but this one had something most peculiar on him."

Shisui started to point at the circular object embedded into the corpse's back. He was about to speak again when he looked up and froze.

There at his desk, Fugaku sat rigidly straight. Mouth parted only slightly and Sharingan eyes active. The surprise and fear that Shisui felt coming from his clan's head and Hokage was worse than any killing intent Shisui had felt in his life.

"W-what is it?" Shisui squeaked.

They sat in silence as Fugaku pulled himself together and slowly stood. Several ANBU appeared in the office and surrounded Shisui and the corpse.

Shisui did not bother standing up as Fugaku slowly walked up to him. The man's eyes, Sharingan still active, had not left the corpse.

Slowly, Fugaku's eyes moved to lock onto one of the most prodigious boys of his clan. Uchiha Shisui's own eyes red with the Sharingan. Unconsciously activated some time between Fugaku had stood from his desk and walked over.

"This," Fugaku pointed at the object in the corpse. "Is the Dohatsuten. A forbidden Jutsu that should have been more than impossible for Kumo to have obtained. If this man were alive, he could have single-handedly destroyed Konoha."

After Fugaku had finished speaking, all but one ANBU disappeared along with the corpse. The remaining ANBU held out his hand to Shisui expectantly.

"The other seal," the ANBU warrior demanded. His voice came as if from another location in the office.

Shisui shakily stood, reached into his pocket again, and took out not one, but six body storage seals.

"Just the one with the Kumo-nin, Shisui," Fugaku said in a kind but firm voice.

Shisui quickly nodded and plucked one of the seals to put into the ANBU warrior's outstretched hand. Said warrior then disappeared from the office.

"I don't get it," Shisui said. "I couldn't find them in any bingo books... are they even missing nins? Probably not... but what does that mean? Were they on a mission? Why did they disguise themselves as bandits? Why did they show themselves? Why—"

"For the past six months," Fugaku interrupted. "We have been receiving reports of highly unusual movements from three major villages."

"Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure," Fugaku listed as Shisui clenched his hands into fists. "Within this last month, Kumogakure has been moving forces closer and closer to our country."

"W-what does it mean?" Shisui whispered.

"I believe that at this point, Shisui, you are only trying to delude yourself," Fugaku calmly said. "In one months time, we will strike at the Kumo forces approaching us. We have been waiting in order to observe, however, we cannot afford to wait any longer."

Silence fell in the office and minutes ticked by without either of them trying to break it.

"So this is how the fourth shinobi war starts, huh?" Shisui asked.

"Quite possibly so," Fugaku muttered. "I am putting you in charge of a team that will start dealing with Kirigakure immediately. Those demon fish simply cannot wait to be cooked by our Katon. What's more is our esteemed Maboroshi clan will be actively aiding us. There is no room for failure,"

"What about Haru?" Shisui had to ask the question.

"Forget about him for now," Fugaku stated with finality. "Focus on your current duties."


	9. Chapter 9

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Uchiha Ichiro. Second to last son of Uchiha Chifuyu and only one son out of nine others.

He was six years old the day his mother died giving birth to his younger brother, Haru. He had been waiting patiently in front of his mother's personal birthing room.

His aunt, Hana, was there to help with the birth. Just as she, Hana, was there to help with Ichiro's own birth and the birth of all of his brothers before him.

After a while, Ichiro heard his aunt make an exclamation. "He's beautiful!"

He then, while trying to keep himself from fidgeting, listened to the conversation in the birthing room. He heard his younger brother was named Haru. He couldn’t wait to meet him.

At least the name was beautiful. Ichiro was a bit envious. He didn't much like his own name, especially since it didn't make much sense. The name given to him was usually one given to a first born. But no, he, the eighth son, ended up with the name 'ichi' for 'one' and 'rou' for 'son'. He had no idea why his mother was naming her children when it was his father's job to do so. Not that his father was around a lot to do that job or anything.

Ichiro had been tempted on numerous occasions about asking his mother if she could change his name. She probably wouldn't, but what stopped him from trying was that he feared upsetting her.

His mother acted strong, but it was only with him that she shared a more timid side of herself. With his brothers away either fighting in the war with their father, handling clan matters, or dead, it was up to him to be the man of the household. No matter how strong his mother was, he had to be stronger. The way he saw it, there was no one other than him she could lean on.

He dreaded the day he would graduate from the academy. The day he would be forced to be away for prolonged periods like the rest of his family.

Outside of the birthing room that day, he had heard his name being mentioned inside. His aunt had been coming to the doors of the room and had started to slide them open.

Suddenly, there had been a thump on the floor as if someone fell.

"Nee-sama!" he heard his aunt's frantic voice say.

He quickly stood, opened the door, and entered.

He saw his aunt rushing to cut something, pick up some bundle off the ground, and hold it to herself with one arm. With the other arm, she quickly rolled his mother, who was frightfully pale, over onto her back.

Hana's hand glowed with green chakra.

Ichiro rushed over to fall onto his knees at his mother's head.

"She isn't breathing!"

"I know!" Hana had snapped.

As the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. His mother didn't start to breath again.

Hana moved her glowing hand away from his mother towards the bundle in her arm.

Ichiro's gaze snapped to her as she did so.

"Why did you stop fixing Mother?" he said, ignoring the tears that tracked down Hana's face. Her eyes red with the active Sharingan.

His aunt ignored him as she continued with her work.

He looked back at his mother before quickly getting up. He rushed towards his aunt and made to grab for her hand.

"Why...!" he started to yell before quickly finding himself pushed away and laying on the ground.

"There's nothing..." Hana nearly shouted. She breathed as if in pain. "There's nothing I can do for her!"

His aunt then put all her focus back onto what Ichiro now realised was his younger brother.

_ She's healing Haru but not Mother?! _

He quickly got to his hands and knees and crawled over to his mother's side. Blood had started to pool around her. She still wasn't breathing.

His sight suddenly sharpened. Every single detail of that day seared into his mind. It was that day he gained his Sharingan. The excitement he felt for the birth of his brother was nothing but a fleeting moment. Long since forgotten.

* * *

A few days after that, a funeral was held for his mother. His uncle, the head of the Uchiha clan, was there. However, his father and most of his brothers, except for only a few of them, were nowhere to be seen.

His aunt was there with Haru, but she quickly removed herself from the area.

As far as he was concerned, his aunt's mere presence would be a dishonor to his mother. His aunt let her own sister die in order to save Haru. The way he saw it, she just didn't care enough about his mother. Just like the rest of his family.

_ All of them! None of them ever cared about Mother! _

Ichiro couldn't remember much after that. He quickly graduated from the academy. Afterwards, he went on to fight in the war with his team. He quickly raised through the ranks. From Chunin he quickly became Jounin.

One year after the Kyuubi attack, he joined ANBU.

That brings us to a year after he joined. He was on a mission with one partner. A member of the Maboroshi clan named Riko; codename:  _ Toad _ .

They were scouting the borders of Amegakure. There was tension already throughout the elemental countries. With a possible war amongst three of the major Shinobi villages, Konoha had to ensure that all possible intelligence was gathered on any potential enemies and allies.

After this part of their mission in Ame no Kuni concluded, the team of two was to rendezvous with Jiraiya of the Sannin all the way over in Kaze no Kuni.

Right now, his teammate and him had separated to cover ground. They would not be meeting up with each other for another two hours or so.

Ichiro had taken to the trees. However, he suddenly stopped as a figure suddenly appeared a few branches in front of him.

The Shinobi wore an orange mask with black markings on it. The mask had a single eye hole and from that hole Ichiro clearly saw the Sharingan.

"Uchiha Ichiro," the figure in front of him spoke. Little emotion was in the figure’s voice, but there was something hesitant in it. "You shall suffice for my purposes.  _ Tsukuyomi! _ "


	10. Chapter 10

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

  
  
  


**Headaches of Godaime Hokage Uchiha Fugaku**

The elders sat in front of the Hokage silently after having discussed a new development with Kumo.

To his right were village elders Koharu and Homura. In the centre was Sarutobi Hiruzen. To his side was Shimura Danzo. 

Kumo wanted to discuss peace. Hiruzen glanced towards Danzo; The action was not lost on Fugaku. When the Uchiha became Hokage, Hiruzen told him about Root. He told him how Danzo protected the village from the shadows, but mentioned how shadows consumed Danzo.

It was clear that Danzo did something to make Kumo back off and for that Fugaku was thankful. However, the era where a Hokage needs a shadow is over. Hashirama needed Tobirama and Sarutobi needed Danzo. Tobirama was more shadow then light and Minato was more light than shadow. 

The way Fugaku sees it, with an Uchiha as Hokage, an era of balance has started. An era where the Hokage was both the light and the shadows. Both the leaf and the root of the great tree. 

He had planned to send the strongest of the Maboroshi clan to assassinate Yondaime Raikage, Ei and the Kumo council in their sleep. He would have followed up with his Uchiha decimating Kumo’s forces, then he would have personally placed the Lightning Daimyō and his court of nobles under the power of his Sharingan.

With Danzo doing something to make Kumo seek peace, they would now have just put off fighting for an unknown number of years. However, the battles if they had commenced would have been bloody. Kumo was strong and while Fugaku ensured Konoha was strong after the Kyuubi attack more than two years ago and before taking the mantle of Hokage, the risk of loss still existed at an uncomfortably high level. However, the guise of peace has its own advantages and could definitely aid Fugaku’s plans in the shadows. 

So, Fugaku was annoyed at Danzo, but grateful nonetheless.

Fugaku nodded. “Alright, we will hold peace talks in two months. We’ll deal with Kiri and keep an eye on Iwagakure. Is there anything else?”

With no answer, the elders minus Hiruzen stood and bowed before taking their leave. 

With no one but Hiruzen and Fugaku in the room, the previous Hokage spoke. “I understand you have been investigating Orochimaru.”

Right to the point.

Fugaku nodded. 

“I would like to handle Orochimaru myself,” Hiruzen requested. “If he turns out to truly be a traitor, I will kill him with my own hands.”

Fugaku kept himself from frowning, but thought it over.

“Very well,” Fugaku said.

Hiruzen nodded in thanks and left.

* * *

Fugaku read the most recent report from a clan member he had placed to follow and spy on his nephew, Haru. 

Still no signs of negative effects from killing. Fugaku was proud. 

_ Haru truly is stronger than Itachi. _

His mind flashed to Itachi and even more pride swelled in his chest. His own son and his team had recently been requested for an escort mission by the Fire Daimyō himself. 

Focusing back on the report, he noticed that Haru had been to the Haruno household once more. The first and second time it happened, Fugaku was really suspicious. Although nothing in Haruno Kizashi’s psychological reports suggested it, Fugaku still felt that the man was somehow trying to manipulate his nephew’s feelings so the man could marry his daughter into the Uchiha clan.

But after remembering how strange his own nephew acts and the fact that his nephew hardly interacts with the Haruno daughter and just sits making up jokes with Haruno Kizashi—well, Fugaku was baffled and couldn’t believe why he would think that there was some hidden agenda.

Continuing his reading of the report, he eventually stopped and shook his head. He’s going to have to order his spy to ignore the Haruno meetings, because the reports were turning out to just be pages of jokes. Bad jokes on Haruno Kizashi’s part and baffling jokes on his nephew's side. And hopefully she’ll comply.

Speaking of the spy, though, maybe paranoid pseudo-mother-slash-aunt was a better term because he hardly had to manipulate her into spying on his nephew and reporting to him, she burst into his office.

Uchiha Hana, his younger sister. He would have glared at her if it weren’t for the blank face she wore.

He didn’t have to ask what happened when she spoke.

“The Hanakō twins killed themselves and Haru isn’t talking to me,” she spoke, though her voice wavered. “I only took my eyes off him for a few hours.”

* * *

Uchiha Hana and Uchiha Kō. The kid twins and younger siblings of Uchiha Shisui.

Fugaku sighed after coming back to his house after looking at the bodies. It turned out they threw themselves from the mountain and they had been holding hands.

His wife greeted him silently. She was holding a confused Sasuke. Hana was hovering behind her.

“Where is he?” Fugaku asked.

“He’s in his room,” his wife said and concern was in her eyes.

Haru’s room was right next to Itachi’s and he half expected Itachi to be with Haru, but he had to remind himself that his son was on a mission.

He entered Haru’s room and saw his nephew staring out of his window.

“What happened?” Fugaku asked and was startled when his nephew nearly collapsed away from the window in a clumsy effort to do something.

_ Was he not paying attention to his surroundings? _

His nephew stared at him and for the first time, Fugaku saw the most broken and emotional expression on the young boy’s face. He could not describe it.

“Oji-sama,” Haru said in a watery voice. “I’ve caused the death of innocents.”

And after looking closer at his nephew, he noticed blood at the side of his eyes and blood on his sleeve. 

“You activated your Mangekyo,” it wasn’t a question. “Why?”

“I thought I could stop their fall, but I didn’t know what I was doing,” Haru replied.

“Why did they jump?” Fugaku asked.

Haru fell to his knees and tears started falling out of his eyes.

Not knowing what to do consciously, he let himself walk towards his nephew. He sat next to his sobbing nephew and gently placed his hands on Haru’s head.

“Don’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you,” Haru said and had a tone of pleading just behind his voice.

“I’ll—”  _ decide after I hear. _ Fugaku didn’t finish his statement out loud, so he just nodded.

Haru of course saw through him, but sighed.

“I found them earlier today doing—performing  _ mating _ ,” 

Fugaku frowned. It was strange. They were siblings and— “I didn’t realise they hit puberty already,” he said.

“Does it matter now?” Haru snapped once again startling Fugaku.

“What did you do?” Fugaku asked.

“They wanted me to promise to be quiet. They had looked so afraid of me. Instead of promising, I told them that blindly copying their parents would taint their love. I told them that the love between siblings was the strongest love if nurtured, and that the hate between siblings was the strongest hate if nurtured. The love between siblings and family is the most consistent and can last a lifetime.

“I told them that  _ mating _ was a mechanism to ensure the survival of a species. I told them that it was only natural that emotions would be involved. But I told them that those emotions were inconsistent. That if they involved something  _ base _ and inconsistent, that it could lead to hate.”

Fugaku stared at Nephew with a slack jaw.

“I only wanted them to be careful in their bond. I should have never told them  _ that story _ .”

* * *

He was intangible and invisible as he tracked the strange Uchiha kid. He finally was able to separate the kid’s shadow, but it took some finesse. 

Zetsu had told him about two young Uchiha prodigies, one of whom he learned more about from his apparent brother whom he captured on the border of Ame.

The scene that both the kid and him stumbled on was just too strange. Something deep down in him, a kid that he used to be a long time ago, a loud, obnoxious, goggle-wearing kid who shouted he’d be Hokage to his clan’s faces—that kid that he thought died so long ago, strangely resurfaced just a bit in his mind just enough that he had to control himself from not shouting a  _ “Eww! What are you guys doing?!” _

However, the orange masked predator controlled himself and silently watched as the kid he was following, Uchiha Haru, started speaking to the two other kids that were—

_ Bumping uglies. Ew. Ew. Ew. Tobi’s never going to get that image out of his head. _

But as he listened on to what Uchiha Haru was saying, he became so much more baffled.

“There once was a brother and sister very much like you,” Uchiha Haru spoke as if telling a story. “They loved each other very much. But one day they spied on their parents doing what they have full right to do. The two siblings decided to blindly copy, but because a small instinct in them told them it was wrong, they kept it secret.

“They continued for many years, until one day the girl started to feel differently. She kept her misgivings to herself and while unwilling, continued to allow her brother to be with her as they always had been.

“Sensing the change in his sister, the brother began to feel as if his sister started to hate him. They argued and fought. Neither one truly understanding what changed and perhaps no one could have. Everyone is different after all and emotions are unpredictable. 

“Eventually, the brother became depressed and killed himself. The sister lived alone for the rest of her life.”

_ What the—?! This kid’s a loonatic, Zetsu! _

The two kids—twins from what the orange-masked-man could tell—they looked at each other and looked back at Uchiha Haru.

“Don’t worry, Haru-sama,” the brother said and grasped his sisters hand. “We’ll never hate each other,”

The sister nodded. “We’d rather die than let that happen.”

The masked-man noticed the two sibling’s hands tightening their grip. He saw Uchiha Haru nod before jumping off back into the village.

With a last glance back at the  _ creepy-twins _ , he followed Uchiha Haru.

He found Haru standing in a clearing having stopped, so the man quietly observed. 

_ The kid seems disturbed. Can’t blame him. That whole thing was just `turbing. Hehe. turbing. _

Suddenly the boy turned around with a fully matured Sharingan activated.

The man almost thought that the kid sensed him, but that was impossible.

_ Ho. The Sharingan. So that means Uchiha Itachi is the one without it. Thank you Zetsu for being so damn vague. _

The kid immediately jumped to the trees and retracted his steps back to where the two kids were.

When he got there, the twins were gone.

Uchiha Haru looked around, probably looking for tracks. When he found what he was looking for, he shot off in a direction.

The masked-man in quick pursuit. 

In the distance, the man noticed two figures on top of a high cliff. Looking closer with his own Sharingan, he noticed it was the twins.

Uchiha Haru saw the same.

At that moment the twins jumped and Uchiha Haru screamed.

Suddenly a reddish-purple construct shimmered around the boy, though, what exactly it was not something many would recognise.

The masked-man, however, immediately recognised it and froze in his spot.

_ Susanoo? _

The kid, clearly not knowing what he was doing, shot the shard of the most incomplete Susanoo the man has ever seen. It shot off into the sky. It’s purpose is unknown.

The kid gasped for breath and fell to his knees as he watched the twins hit the ground.

“Hm,” the man made a sound, but was glad that the kid was distracted and didn’t hear.

The air started to swirl and the man teleported away.

In front of him was a plant-like creature, one half of it white and the other black. 

“Did you just orchestrate that drama-show, Zetsu?”

The black-half chuckled darkly. “Those kids would have died in a few years along with their clan anyway,  _ Madara _ .”

The man was silent for a few moments.

“So, Uchiha Itachi still hasn’t activated his Sharingan?” the man rhetorically asked. The air swirled once more, a destination mind. “I’ll go fix that.”

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for such a late update. Honestly, I keep getting distracted by plot bunnies that I have to write down. My Google Docs is full of unfinished stories that I know better than to publish just yet. 

To be honest, this story was my very first. I didn’t have a writing or quality criteria and I thought it would have been a good idea to post this, even though it is first-draft quality, so that I could use the public as alpha or beta readers.

I know now I just wanted an ego boost. Lol. Anywho, since I already published this, I am going to continue posting, even if everything may remain first-draft quality. I don’t want to keep everyone waiting while I finished the story and go through my personally-learned writing stages to start publishing that.

I started with a plot in mind, but I do realise it can be optimised. So I apologise if anyone is confused by this story. I’m going to finish writing and keep publishing. Once this version is complete, I’ll go through my writing stages, hire some beta readers, proofreaders, editors, and all that with good money if I can scrounge it up, then publish the better version of this story.

Until then, I hope everyone at least enjoys this version of the story as I publish new chapters.


	11. Chapter 11

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Fugaku loved his village. That is why when he was given the path to the mantle of Hokage without opposition, he immediately began work on making his village stronger before he even took the hat from Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The first problem the village faced was manpower. The kyuubi attack severely crippled Konoha. Therefore, Fugaku pushed into existence a new rule that required untrained and able-bodied civilians to be trained and thus be maximally effective in warfare as much as possible despite their natural limits when it comes to Chakra. Their children, be they newborns or toddlers, would be taken care of by the academy while the adults were busy with their duties to their village. 

If the civilians to be trained had businesses, they received free support of all manner from the village. Especially the businesses that heavily dealt with anything-outside the village. This way, Konoha can keep the illusion of manpower by sending shinobi out on  _ ‘missions’ _ while also solving that very problem of manpower internally.

When Fugaku learned of Root from Hiruzen, he immediately made it so that all children in orphanages were required to attend the new programs at the academy until the time they joined it as official students. That is if they chose to become official students, of course, but Fugaku couldn’t think of any reason why they would choose anything but the Academy. Especially with special graduation exceptions and exams that he put in place. He made it easy to get in and easy to get out, at the end of the road an individual will always have something of value to provide the village.

It turns out, civilian adults with limited chakra-training could become very useful, if not a bit mediocre, medics. That, and when taught, civilians can survive an engagement with fresh Genin and Genin who underestimate them. Against a team of Genin ready to become Chunin, well, a team of the really talented civilians is projected by the Research division to be able to take them down if they employ simple ANBU tactics.

Fugaku found it amazing and the Research division even had projected uses that were predicted from the data of still ongoing experiments.

Against groups of bandits, talented civilians were projected to be able to easily survive and defeat them by employing basic taijutsu and stealth techniques. With the automated weapons that the Konoha Research Division invented to compensate for the physical weakness of an adult civilian, the possibilities were truly numerous. 

A project was even headed by Orochimaru himself creating a sealed stealth technique that utilised natural energy and could make a civilian invisible to all senses of a shinobi no matter how skilled or natural of a sensor they are.

The technique was quickly developed and steadily improved to levels of safe usage thanks to the civilians who willingly and almost happily volunteered. Mainly only those who lost their family and were depressed, drunks prone to violence, and who were suicidal, but who still had a sense of  _ extra  _ loyalty to the village, or at least love Sarutobi Hiruzen enough to _ ‘make the old man proud _ ’, were targeted. 

However, Fugaku began to grow suspicious of something happening behind his back when a few, though mediocre and unskilled, ninja of the same demographic began disappearing. When he started investigating, it stopped. Fugaku really hoped Orochimaru wasn’t committing the crimes, because out of all the Sannin, he was actually useful to Konoha. Plus the other two Sannin, who could probably take down Orochimaru together or single-handedly without extra casualty besides themselves, were not even in the village to do so if Orochimaru did turn out to be a traiter. The Slug Princess deserted the village and wastes her money on Sake and gambling while Jiraya himself was on a man-hunt for the man who caused the Kyuubi attack. The enemy with a Sharingan. The self-proclaimed and utterly fake,  _ hopefully _ , Uchiha Madara.

It was not enough. Besides the so-called _Madara_ , there were enemies all around. War could start any time if the other villages thought Konoha was somehow at a weak point or if some nobles squabbled. War almost did start if not for Kumo _asking_ for peace. War required _sacrifices_ to be used when strategically logical. Why should such _sacrifices_ be those of his own village? Be they shinobi or trained-civilians, he found that it was unacceptable. 

That is when he decided that civilian villages and hubs, especially the capital, in the Land of Fire should have a watered-down version of the Academy. Useless, but well rounded in  _ some  _ knowledge and with  _ some _ abilities, Genin were sent outside the village to teach both children and adults alike the ‘ _ Wonders of Chakra’ _ ,  _ ‘Chakra for all’ _ ,  _ ‘Figure out how Shinobi do it’,  _ and even _ ‘Learn the Amazing Ninja Arts to compete in the Kumite where contestants fight to the death and the winner becomes a Kage’. _

Every now and then, ANBU are sent to assess the talent of non-village children, the adults if they have  _ interesting _ business or connections, if anyone’s a spy or such, and anything else that could lead to regret if not used, wasted, or analysed and triple-checked. And for this project of training outside-civilians, Fugaku placed Shimura Danzo in charge.

Fugaku made sure everything was set in a way that Danzo could not have a long term advantage. He allowed Danzo to  _ steal _ potential talent or prodigies. He’ll allow Danzo to boost  _ his _ Root, because Root’s talent will eventually become Konoha’s once Fugaku kills the old one-eyed Tobriama-sama-wannabe. He even was able to  _ sneak  _ some spies into Root that had prodigious talent in order to learn everything he can of Danzo’s training methods and so he can have that talent be able to teach and train more talent later on.

He also found it amusing to imagine the headaches Danzo must be going through because, after Fugaku became the new Fifth Hokage, he stuck Morino Ibiki as the second head of the  _ training of sacrifices _ project which happened to also be a major project for the entire Torture and Interrogation division with some help and heavy interest from the Intelligence division. 

While Uchiha Fugaku was a proud man, he could not find any logical reason to prevent non-Uchiha to join the Police force. It would even remain affiliated to the Uchiha. However, he overestimated the ability of the Uchiha elders to see reason, even after explaining to them Tobirama’s ploy. Although it did not go his way, he regretted explaining Tobirama’s ploy as that caused a strange, but subtle, shift against the village amongst the Uchiha elders. 

_ You win some and you lose some. _

That was not enough. 

Hashirama was a short sighted fool and if Tobirama kept a diary he would have surely agreed with Fugaku. Hashirama should not have spread out the Biju amongst the other villages. The only reason Konoha was so feared in the past was because of Hashirama, Madara, their prowess, and also the ties Konoha had to the Uzumaki and Maboroshi clan. With all of the Biju in Konoha’s hands, the First and Second War would have never happened. The other villages are nothing more than Konoha-copycats. At that time, even though the other villages threatened war after learning of Konoha’s acquisition of the Kyuubi, they could not have done anything in the face of Konoha’s might. And if Hashirama kept the Biju he captured instead of giving them away, the other villages would have been nothing but a memory in dusty history scrolls. The other villages would have been a  _ strange historical anomaly _ that happened right after Konoha was founded and it would have been the beginning of a great era of peace.

That was what Fugaku believed.

However Hashirama was too soft-hearted. His son, Itachi, would have probably gotten along well with him.

However, as anyone with the Will of Fire would say, the next generation will always be stronger than the last and one only hopes that they would also be better; as such, Fugaku is going to have to fix Hashirama’s blunder.

Devising plans upon plans to retrieve all nine Biju was hard. The Maboroshi clan would be of the most use. Only the Uchiha have ancient records on that clan. There were even close ties between the clans at certain points in history. The Maboroshi were to the Uchiha as the Uzumaki were to the Senju.

Among the history recorded, the Maboroshi are said to be able to control the Biju. In fact, a single Maboroshi in their history had controlled three Biju at the same time. However, time has forgotten, but the Uchiha have not. The Uchiha never forget, they just blind themselves.

Because the Maboroshi had such an important role in Fugaku’s plan, he now stood in his office that he just destroyed in anger right after learning that all but five of the Maboroshi had been massacred just a few hours before the rise of that day’s sun.

And even worse, Uchiha  _ Shisui _ just came back from a month-long extermination mission in Kiri with his team.

* * *

“I heard you’re finally getting a team,” Uchiha Shisui said in a toneless voice.

Uchiha Haru looked up at Shisui and an expression of regret and pain came onto the young boy’s voice.

“He told you,” Haru said, referring to Fugaku and the matter of Shisui’s younger twin siblings.

“ _ Everything, _ ” Shisui said and his voice cracked. 

Shisui took one step forward. Haru took one step backwards, a weary and tired look coming to his face and his body preparing for a fight. No matter his feelings of guilt, he won’t willingly let himself be killed.

“I understand if you hate me,” Haru said calmly, though, if Haru could ever be described as having a tear-filled tone, then he would in that moment.

Tears dropped from Shisui’s face and the older boy brought his arm up to cover his face.

“Don’t be stupid,” Shisui said. His voice cracking. “I’m not blaming you.”

Shisui lowered his arm and stared into Haru’s eyes. Both sets of eyes devoid of Sharingan as neither boy had activated them.

Haru relaxed and tears came to the younger boy’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Haru said.

“I said I wasn't blaming  _ you _ !” Shisui loudly snapped.

Shisui slowly walked up the younger boy, crouched, and hugged Haru. 

“If anything, I’m sorry my siblings were dumb enough to let words kill them. They were Genin, they should have had thicker skin,” Shisui said. “It doesn’t make sense, what happened. Your words had a strange wisdom to them. It’s not your fault for being strange. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I should have been the one to knock sense into them instead of you,”

“I should have said nothing to  _ them _ ,” Haru whispered. 

“Whatever you say, Haru,” Shisui said and tears fell down stronger.

* * *

“So!” Shisui spoke a bit too brightly and a bit too cheerfully. “Go on in and meet your team,”

Shisui had walked Haru to the academy. His team’s sensei had been scheduled to meet them in a few minutes while Haru meets two recently graduated Genin.

Haru looks at Shisui and the older boy groans. “Come on dude! I’m in mourning. Spare me the deep looks and thought-provoking words and let me behave how I want in peace at least for today. Mind numbing cheerfulness. That’s what I’m gonna do. Nothing will stop me. Ugh, look what you’ve made me do. I’ve gone meta.”

Haru opened his mouth to say something but Shisui quickly interrupted while pointing a finger in Haru’s face.

“And don’t go saying ‘sorry’ again!” Shisui said. Then he turned on his heel and started walking away. “Good luck with D-ranks. They’re gonna be a blast. Hahaha!”

* * *

When he reached a classroom he’d never been to before, Haru entered. The classroom teacher had been shuffling some papers before looking up.

“You’re on time,” the random teacher said. He then pointed to a man standing to the side with two Genin. “That’s your team. Good luck,”

“You believe in luck?” Haru asked, sounding very intrigued.

“What?” the random teacher asked confusedly, before shaking his head not waiting for an answer. “I’m done here. Have a pleasant day and don’t die anytime soon. Goodbye,”

The random teacher left as the remaining adult chuckled. He waved. 

“Yo. I’m Yamashiro Aoba,” the spiky-haired, red-rimmed-sunglass wearing man said.

“Yo?” Haru repeated questioningly and titled his head to the side.

“Sensei, why do we have a kid on our team?” a feral looking girl, with pupiless blue eyes and Inuzuka-like wild blonde hair, said. 

“Now, now. Be nice,” Aoba said calmly and pointed at Haru. “Let’s introduce ourselves. Starting with you,”

“Uchiha Haru,” Haru said.

“Is that it?” Aoba asked.

“Abdullah bin Abdullah,” Haru said.

“Huh?” Aoba looked confused.

“I’ve heard of you,” the feral-looking girl said. “You’re that arrogant Uchiha kid that graduated in like two weeks riding off the coattails of your own Hokage,”

Haru smiled kindly at the girl. “Don’t worry, I’m quite skilled,  _ I think _ . I won’t get you killed,  _ I hope _ . I won’t botch up any missions,  _ probably _ . You can rely on me in the battle field.  _ Maybe _ . Who knows.”

Haru gave a small shrug.

A small laugh tinkled through the room from the remaining Genin. A kid with shoulder-length black hair. They, a boy or a girl, wore a blank white full-face mask. As quickly as the Genin laughed, they stopped, placing a hand on their bandage covered throat as if in pain.

The feral-looking girl just looked annoyed at Haru.

“Alright guys,” Aoba said, raising his hands placatingly. “Let’s try that again. Names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Haru-kun, you’re up again,”

“Do I repeat my name?” Haru asked as if confused.

“You can skip to the next part,” Aoba said, amused.

“I like looking at the stars, I suppose. Something sweet every now and then is nice. I dislike dumb people who hate without thinking twice or love without thinking twice and who build temples  _ solely  _ for their emotions; their venerated kami that blinds them to their own selves and to others. My dream for the future? I won’t sum it up as a dream. It’s more of an ambition. I want to figure out why I’m on this planet,”

Aoba looked as if he was trying to decipher some verbal code to which someone threw the cipher away.

The girl looked between annoyed and offended as if something Haru said was directed her way. 

The masked kid, well it looked like he was writing on a scroll. Haru thought they were taking notes, but then the kid made a hand sign and the scroll glowed. Out of it a soft and airy voice, that could have been a boy’s or a girl’s, spoke.

“Are you an alien?” the voice asked, sounding curious.

Haru smiled and tilted his head. “I distinctly remember being born at the old Uchiha clan grounds.”

The girl snorted. “You talk too much.”

Haru’s smile never wavered. “Well, I’ll freely admit that I’m the dumbest person among the dumb. Though, I find Shinobi to be a really thoughtful, sensitive, and educated bunch. Honestly, from what I’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if two enemy nins stopped in the middle of a fight to talk and share their hearts.”

The girl just looked confused.

Aoba shook his head and chuckled. “Honestly. Good grief. Heh. Your turn blondie.”

“I’m Yamanaka Yū. I like cats. I hate  _ stinky dogs _ and I think flowers and fashion are stupid. I think the Will of Fire is also  _ stupid  _ just like the name sounds  _ stupid  _ and Senju Tusnade-sama knew it because she ain’t  _ stupid _ . I’ll not only be the greatest medic-nin ever, but the strongest damn shinobi this world will ever know. Oh and if a random fucking  _ Uchiha _ can get to be Hokage while  _ Madara _ couldn’t, and he founded the village, well, then I’ll just be the next fricking Hokage myself and I’ll do a damn good job at it.”

Aoba gaped at her. “Uh. That’s nice. Do we have to worry about any insubordination from you?”

“What’s that?” Yū asked, clearly confused.

“Aoba-sensei’s asking if you’ll be anything like Senju Tsuande,” the soft voice from the masked-kid’s scroll filled the air. 

“Hell yeah!” she replied. “I’ll be even greater!”

Aoba sighed and pointed to the last Genin who immediately started writing as he spoke. “Alright, you’re next.”

By the time Aoba finished his sentence, the scroll glowed and an introduction was recited to everyone.

“I’m Maboroshi Dan. I like my older sister. I hate my cousins that weren’t killed. My dream is to go to the moon and live there.”

“The moon  _ looks  _ like a nice place to live,” Haru said, nodding his head seriously.

Aoba pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking. “Alright brats, I’m gonna test you tomorrow. Be at the top of the Hokage mountain one-hour before sunrise.”

With that, Aoba disappeared in a flash leaving his new students alone in the classroom.

“Does anyone want to go eat ramen?” Dan’s scroll voiced. 

“I don’t like ramen,” Yū said. “Let’s get barbeque instead,”

Both Yū and Dan looked over at Haru to see what he had to say. Yū quickly scowled either because she remembered she wanted to hate Uchiha Haru,  _ because he’s a stuck up little prick _ , or because of some other unknown reason.   
  


“I don’t like either of those options. Let’s eat fish instead.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Haru slowly opened his eyes. His room was filled with the soft light of a waning moon. He had had quite a peaceful sleep for once, which he found it a bit strange. Nonetheless, he began his daily routine. Before he even sat up from his resting position, habitual words of gratitude and glorification poured from his mouth in a whisper. It was spoken in a tongue completely foreign to the entire planet. However, and unbeknownst to Haru, the intention behind them seemed to resonate deeply with the planet itself. The natural energy flowing in rhythm with the words. As if finally, after a long time, someone was doing something that did not damage the nature around them.

Haru got up and made his way to fill a small basin with water. Once filled, he washed his hands making sure to get water in between his fingers and up to his wrist. He rinsed his mouth. He silently breathed water into and out of his nose and washed his face. He moved to putting water over his arms. Everytime he wiped over a limb, it was as if dark and slightly transparent wisps would exit his body with the drops of water. He continued by wiping his head and cleaning his ears. He finished by washing his feet.

When he returned to his room, he looked out of the window for a few minutes. He then turned to a small shelf holding thirty scrolls. He reached and allowed his fingers to touch them before stopping randomly. He pulled the scroll his fingers stopped at and unrolled it. It was written using a script from beyond the planet. A script from the mid-rim of a galaxy far away. The script was used to encode what Haru now holds in his hands. One part of thirty. A book of guidance for those who want it. And Haru really, really needs it. He had desperately written it out from memory among many other things. Following the book was easier than attempting to travel to where all stars end and where the upper planes of the universe begin only to potentially be shot down by the beings that reside there. Not that he had the capability to make the trip.

After a while of reading, Haru sensed it was time to leave. He rolled up the scroll and put it back in it’s exact place. As he exited his room, a smiling Uchiha Mikoto stood with a small pack of food in her hands. 

“Here you go,” she said. “It’s just a small breakfast. Just like how you like it,”

“Thank you, Nee-sama,” Haru replied and Mikoto glowed, happy that she was able to get him out of the habit of calling her something that made her feel like an old woman.

“Bring your team as soon as you can. I want to meet the two who’ll be protecting my little Haru-chan,” she said as she bent and grabbed both of his cheeks and stretched them playfully. 

As usual, Haru’s face reddened in embarrassment. Not willing to be rude and feeling that telling her to stop pulling his cheeks would work just as effectively as it had last time, he went for the alternative. “I assure you, Nee-sama, I will be the one protecting them.”

Mikoto grinned and she stood to her height. “Well get going then.”

Haru nodded and made his way towards the door. 

“Good luck, Haru,” he heard another voice along the way. It was Uchiha Hana. 

Haru stopped, walked and smiled. “Thank you, Kaa-san.” He ignored her small flinch, but she seemed more used to it now. She breastfed him when he was little, took care of him when he was weak, so of course she was his mother. “This is the second time I hear someone mentioning luck. Do you really believe in it?”

Hana chuckled. “Not really.”

Haru nodded and seemed pleased. 

He exited the house, left the new Uchiha compound, and started walking towards the Hokage mountain. His emotions turned more grave as he stared at the large faces carved into the mountain with the moon shining behind them. The shadows playing tricks of all kinds and making the faces menacing. The newest face, that of Uchiha Fugaku, being the most menacing of all. With it still being dark out, the eyes of the carved face seemed like sinking caves of darkness of unknown depths. During the day, however, one would have been able to see the carved Sharingan.

He was distracted by a small noise to his side, so he stopped walking and looked. Coming down a tree, and shining in the moonlight, was a rather large white snake. It flicked it’s tongue at Haru and slithered closer.

“If you are capable of understanding me,” Haru said with a slight frown and the snake stopped. “I suggest you turn around and go the way you came,”

  
  


The snake flicked it’s tongue and started slithering towards Haru once more, as if in curiosity. 

Haru's dark eyes narrowed. “I will repeat. If you are capable of comprehension, return the way you came. There will be no warning after the third.”

The snake, seemingly incapable of understanding, grew closer to Haru. So, Haru gave his third and final warning to the snake. “Begone.”

  
  


With the third and final warning ignored, Haru took it to mean that the creature was not in disguise. Beyond the sensing capability of the snake, Haru flashed towards it at great speed. He extended two fingers, and with a small pulse of chakra, the snake was dead. 

Haru stood and looked at it for a moment, before crouching once more. He spoke. 

“You were a frightful creature. But you were beautiful too.”

Haru placed his hands on the ground and sent a pulse of chakra into it. The snake was suddenly consumed by the earth and buried. 

Haru got back up and continued walking. Long after he was gone, a small rustle was heard in amongst the leaves in the trees and down the trunk slithered another snake. It stopped where it’s fellow snake had been buried and then looked in the direction Haru walked in. It flickered it’s forked tongue.

“Curse you, child.” the snake hissed. “My beloved was not even a summon,”

And with that, the snake that spoke disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

* * *

Yamanaka Yū finished climbing to the top of the Hokage rock and found her friend, Maboroshi Dan sitting quietly. 

Walking up to him, she roughly landed onto her behind next to him and leaned back on to her hands. 

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hm,” Dan greeted with a nod.

She looked away and scowled. “Are they able to get your voice back?”

“Hm,” Dan replied, but Yū understood what it meant.

“Whatever,” she said petulantly. “You couldn’t shut up anyway. Now I can get some peace and quiet.”

She received a soft punch to her shoulder. She growled and threw back a punch ten times the power only for it to phase through Dan and off-balanced her.

She quickly stood and shouted. “Hey! That’s not fair dumbass.”

Dan remained seated and started laughing. She kicked at his head, but it just passed through. So she gave up.

“Tch,” she said, crossing her arms and looking away. “It’s a waste of time anyway.”

After a few minutes she spoke up again. “What do you think about him?”

Dan made a hand sign and his scroll and brush popped into existence. He quickly wrote down his thoughts, snickering as he did.

“I think you have a crush on him,” Dan’s scroll voiced.

Her face darkened. “When that shithead gets here I’ll show him what  _ crush _ is.”

“Why do you hate him so much?” the scroll asked.

Yū tried to answer, but couldn’t get much more of a splutter out. So, instead she countered with a: “Why do you like him so much?”

“I don’t even know him,” Dan wrote.

“Good morning,” Aoba suddenly appeared in front of them. “You guys got here early,”

Dan nodded. 

“Where’s Haru-kun?” Aoba asked, looking around. 

Yū smirked. “He’s late.”

“Now, now,” Aoba said. “There’s still five seconds left,”

And just as those seconds ran out, Haru appeared next Aoba. 

“Precisely on time, Haru-kun,” Aoba said, impressed.

Haru gave a small smile. But it made Yū’s mood all the more sour. “Showoff.”

Haru blinked. Then he raised his right hand. “I have food.”

Her stomach growled, but she ignored it as she looked interestedly at Haru’s hand. But the sight just annoyed her further. “That’s too little.”

Haru was about to pull his hand away when she stepped forward and snatched the box away. “Whatever, thanks.”

Haru smiled and it was a bit wider.

Dan stood up as Aoba began speaking. “Alright, listen up guys. Yesterday I said I was going to test you, but an emergency came up and Hokage-sama gave you guys a mission instead.”

“Really?” Yū said as she chewed the food. “What is it?”

“I need to warn you first,” Aoba said and the atmosphere became tense. “If you guys fail this mission, you’ll be handed over to Torture and Interrogation.”

Yū swallowed and stared at Aoba. 

“Seriously?” she asked with an incredulous look on her face.

“What’s the mission, Yamashiro-sensei?” Haru asked, not seeming at all disturbed.

“A spy and his accomplices have infiltrated Konoha. You have until next week at this time to locate, capture, or kill all of the accomplices and interrogate the mastermind for anything valuable,”

Aoba paused and looked at the faces of each of his genin. Yū looked as incredulous as she did when he started, but Dan seemed to have a calm air about him similar to Haru. 

“Why give us a mission like this, Yamashiro-sensei?” Haru asked and Yū nodded.

Aoba leaked out some killing intent to be felt by all three genin, which did not seem to faze Haru. “Are you refusing a direct mission from the Hokage himself,  _ genin _ ?”

Aoba noticed a small smile on the corner of Haru’s mouth.

_ Man, this kid knows. _

So, in response, Aoba increased his killing intent. 

But Yū was the first to break and shouted at Haru. “Shut it fuck face! I’m not going to fail a mission because of you.”

And with that, Aoba let his killing intent disappear. 

“One of the accomplices is known to Konoha and is in fact a traitor,” Aoba continued. 

He pulled out a file from his jacket and handed it to Yū. “Here’s everything we know about him.”

“Don’t fail your village,” Aoba said, letting another spike of killing intent out. “If you’re not here next week at this time with a completed mission, we’ll assume you’re dead or traitors and we’ll send ANBU to make sure you’re the former. So make sure to show up or make it easier on the head of Torture by not.”

WIth that Aoba disappeared. Leaving speechless genin. Though, Haru was not inclined to speak, so he was more quiet then speechless. However, he was thoughtful.

“Let’s look at the information,” Dan wrote.

Yū opened the folder and both Dan and Haru looked. A quick look of amusement flashed across Haru’s face as he saw the identity of the accomplice. He couldn’t help but remember—

* * *

**A few weeks ago**

Haru was walking back towards the Uchiha compound when suddenly a green-clad shinobi came running towards him. The shinobi leaped and sailed over Haru’s head, Haru following his trajectory. 

“Dynamic Entry!” the shinobi shouted at the top of his lungs. 

Suddenly a great crash was heard and Haru blinked. There in the middle of the road was a spiky white-haired shinobi who had his hands in his pockets. The shinobi was rather nonchalant for the target of a rather spectacular, in Haru’s opinion, attack that just destroyed a thick wooden pole.

Haru blinked.

* * *

A pale hand held out a dead mouse to the snake before him. 

“My condolences,” a cold raspy voice said to the snake. However, the person could have cared less. “I sense great hate in you. Do not let blind you. I want you to stay in the shadows as you continue watching him. Let your hate fuel you.”

The snake hissed in displeasure before dispersing with a pop and a small cloud of white smoke.

A dark chuckle rang out from the darkness. “What an interesting child.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 13**

* * *

Nara Shikaku was not having a good day. He pushed the door to the hokage office open a little too hard. He noticed Fugaku leaning on the edge of his desk, arms folded against his chest, and eyes closed.

“When you ordered  _ ‘high stakes’ _ , I was expecting Forest of Death, multiple powerful enemies, a lot of blood, and broken bones,” Shikaku said as he put his hands in his pockets. “Then why in the world were they given free rein?”

“Hn,”

Shikaku moved a hand and rubbed his forehead. “Screw Yamashiro’s test. We’re lucky the explosion didn’t kill anyone. Just tell him to change it.”

Fugaku didn’t open his eyes, but he smirked.

Shikaku didn’t like the new feeling that came to him. Not one bit.

“They’ve moved to the outskirts now,” 

“Outskirts,” Shikaku said in monotone, having a good hunch on just which parts of the outskirts Fugaku was talking about.

“Ho,” Fugaku said in an impressed tone, though his eyes remained closed. “Gai just destroyed one of your trees,”

With his hands at his sides, Shikaku just hung his head dejectedly. “Troublesome.”

“Don’t worry about your deer,” Fugaku said with a toothy grin. “I see there’s none around them for miles. They must’ve been spooked badly.”

Shikaku sighed and was about to rush out when his eyes caught the sight of the desk. There was no paper in sight.

_ Has Hikoboshi been activated already? _

* * *

**Earlier that day**

A raven flew against dawn’s twilight, invisible. It sent its attention below. Eyes glowing red.

“Maito Gai,” Yū recited in a serious tone. Her eyes, and the eyes of her teammates had no trouble seeing the words with the dim light.

“Age. Sixteen,” she continued, scanning the file that Aoba had handed her. “Registration. Zero-One-Zero-Two-Five-Two. Jonin of Konoha.”

She fell silent for a moment, her eyes taking in every word. She looked at the other pages quickly. 

“It says he’s skilled at Taijutsu, but if this guy is a traiter, he probably hid a lot of his skills. There’s information on his father, who was skilled enough to defeat one of the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsman. I think it’s a good bet that this asshole is at least as strong as his father. He also fought in the war.

“There’s a list of known associates,” she said, pulling out some papers. “Sensei didn’t mention anyone else from Konoha being traitors, but—”

She frowned as she looked at each paper, before giving up at trying to look at them all while standing, and so she plopped down onto the ground to spread the papers out.

“We shouldn’t take chances. Sarutobi Asuma can be ruled out. He's the Sandaime's kid. Hatake Kakashi too. I remember he was the Yondaime’s student, so there’s no way he’s a traitor. There’s also the traitor’s teammate, Shiranui Genma. There’s no way he’s part of this because I know he was one of the Yondime’s elite guards. The other teammate, he could be an accomplice. As for the really hot sister—”

Yū suddenly stopped. A small blush on her cheeks. She sent a quick look at Dan, who was crouching next to her, but she didn’t bother looking behind her where she knew Haru was standing.

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat. She shifted to bring one knee up to prop her elbow on while letting her head rest on her fist—trying to force away an embarrassing ache and to hide the sudden shivers in her shoulders. “The point. Yuhi Kurenai and this Ebisu guy are suspects.”

She fumbled with the papers with her free hand. After a moment, her gaze sharpened in focus. She grabbed two papers, not looking at them, and thrust them towards Dan.

“You deal with these two. Find where they live, what their daily habits are, and who they meet. Look for anything suspicious,” she told him.

Dan took the papers, looked at them, then the two dark slits in his mask stared back at her. 

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved off some unspoken words. “I know you haven’t mastered your clan’s clone technique yet, but we have a week, so just give the time to follow each,”

With that, she put all the papers back into the folder and stood. The sky had brightened a bit more, but it’d be a while before sunrise. She then turned and looked at Haru in distaste. He was just standing there, smiling.

She heard the sound of a brush on paper and turned to look back at Dan.

“Do we even go home at night?” Dan’s scroll voiced.

She blinked in surprise. “I thought we’d just camp up here every night. Besides, I thought you’d be fine with it.”

Dan nodded to indicate he was.

“I can prepare an empty house if you guys wish,” Haru offered.

She huffed. “Forget it. We’re camping up here.”

Then she blinked in thought and looked at Dan. “Would you pay for food? My savings dried up the other day.”

Dan shrugged.

“If we are going to camp here every night, perhaps we should hunt for food as well,” Haru said while indulgently smiling.

She didn’t notice and her face contorted into a savage grin. “That’s even better. We don’t need money!”

“I volunteer to do all the hunting,” Haru said. 

Her face gained a ticked-off look. “What the fuck. I wanna do the hunting! You’ll just bring us fish every night.”

“I will hunt for rabbits instead,” Haru replied while shrugging. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re gonna find rabbits?!” she yelled. “The hogs are easier.”

“The deer?” Haru asked instead, tilting his head.

“Those belong to the Nara. You haven’t been fucking with them, have you?” she took a step towards Haru.

“Of course not,” Haru said with a slight and almost imperceptible exasperation. “What about the yak?”

“What is wrong with you, those are special and belong to the Akimichi. Not. For. Hunting!” she yelled while pointing a finger at him.

“The serow?” he asked. 

She blinked in surprise and a thoughtful look crossed her face. Then her savage grin returned. “That works.”

“Would you like to clean it?” Haru offered.

“What? I’m doing the hunting and the cleaning too, so fuck off!” she said.

“That is most—unfair,” Haru said with a thoughtful pause.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she looked at Dan. He made a hand sign.

“Can you even eat that much meat in a week?” the scroll voiced.

She looked at her friend scandalised. Before she could say anything Haru spoke up. “Fish?”

She sighed in defeat. “Fine, whatever. But I’ll catch the fish. And clean them too. You can cook them if you want.”

Haru nodded with a smile.

She crossed her arms and turned her face away. “The mission now. Dan’ll go for those two, but you and I will go deal with the traitor. We’ll keep our distance for now to see who he meets and interacts with. But we’ll need to figure out a way to capture him. Do you know any good Uchiha torture techniques?”

Haru raised an eyebrow. “I don’t.”

“That’s shitty luck then, because Inoichi-sama promised to teach me some cool techniques if I passed sensei’s test. I can’t believe how this turned out. I could have used it on this mission,” she said and sighed. “We’ll just have to do it the hard way. I know someone who can get me free poisons and drugs. The traitor’s file mentioned that alcohol affects him in some way, so I’m guessing if we give him something stronger, he’ll talk,”

“Will that truly be necessary?” Haru asked.

She scowled. “What, have a better idea?”

“Hatake Kakashi,” Haru said simply.

A look of confusion came over her face. “Huh?”

“The files listed Hatake-san under Maito-san’s known associates,” Haru said. “I happen to know that Maito-san views Hatake-san as his, to put it in Maito-san’s words,  _ ‘Eternal Rival’ _ ,”

“Okay,” she said, thinking things over. “What’s the point?”

“We could try to use Hatake-san’s capture to distract Maito-san,” Haru said.

“Why would that even work?” 

“It wouldn’t, except, Hatake-san will work with us,” Haru replied.

“Stop being so fucking vague,” she demanded.

Haru smirked. “I know Hatake-san’s weakness and so does Maito-san. We can set a trap Maito-san will fail to see coming.”

“I’m listening,” she leaned in closer with interest.

After Haru finished detailing the general idea, she grinned with excitement.

“Don’t worry about that part of the trap. I’ve got the perfect solution.” she said with a dark gleam in her eye. “But I think we’ll still need those drugs. And some paralysis poison from my friend’s summons. I’m good with senbon, so we don’t need that other part,”

* * *

It was not hard to find Maito Gai. His address was listed in his file. Following him was quite intense as he ran very quickly. On his hands.

Yū and Haru followed. Taking note of everyone that Gai interacted with, which, hours into the morning, was a total sum of zero.

“His training methods are curious,” Haru commented offhandedly. “It seems I have some ways to go yet,”

Yū looked at him and raised a mocking eyebrow. “What, the genius is admitting he’s bad at something?”

“I certainly did not say I was bad,” Haru said with a smile. “But there is always some aspect where a person is lacking,”

Yū huffed and turned away from him.

They followed Gai until just before noon, but then Yū grew impatient. “Alright, I like this area so we’ll set the trap here. You go get ready while I set things.”

* * *

Gai did one last handstand pushup before pushing and flipping onto his feet. “Yosh! It seems like one of them is ready.”

One of the things about walking around on your hands all the time is that you see all sorts of things when looking at the world from a different angle. 

“That youthful girl needs to work on her stealth,” he said to himself as he stretched, waiting for it to start.

Gai mused about where the third teammate was. He knew the boy was a Maboroshi so he assumed the kid was well hidden.

Suddenly a kunai flew at him. He noted the inactive explosive tag attached to it before swiftly dodging, letting it fly past him.

The girl leapt down onto the road in front him. “Why did you betray Konoha?”

He blinked before remembering he was supposed to be an evil enemy. 

“Maa, fighting with the squirts now, are we?” a familiar voice came from his side, surprising him. 

The white-haired, gravity-defying, masked-Jonin with only one eye visible stood with the girl’s teammate at his side.

“Kakashi!” Gai said with a grin. “What are you doing here?”

The kid next to his rival, pulled out a familiar orange book. 

“We came to an agreement,” the boy said. “We wouldn’t tell him what happens after—”

“Now, now. No spoilers. That’s what we agreed,” Kakashi said, causing Gai to connect the dots.

“Kakashi,” Gai said, embarrassed for his friend. “My hip rival. To be caught like this is very un-youthful,”

Distracted, Gai almost did not catch the sound of the explosive tag. He jumped and three things happened. A senbon caught him by surprise across his cheek, the explosive tag went off in a large blast of fire, pressure and smoke. Finally, just as Gai’s feet touched the roof of the building he had jumped towards, it exploded underneath him in an even larger ball of fire and smoke.

* * *

Before the smoke fully cleared away, Yū dashed forwards to where she knew the Gai was. He was still alive and trying to get up, but the paralytic poison she got seemed to be working. She jumped and gave a kick to Gai’s back causing him to fall flat. She pressed the point of her kunai to the back of his head, but not too hard.

“Tell us who you’re working with!” she demanded.

Gai groaned beneath her. “How?” 

She smirked and pointed towards Haru. 

“That was excessive,” the boy said with a frown, looking at the destroyed building and rubble, not even looking at the felled Gai. Perhaps not expecting this kind of trap. He should have probably asked.

Gai looked towards him and saw that Kakashi was still standing there. After a moment, Kakashi seemed to morph and shift into a duplicate of the Uchiha boy. Another moment later, the original boy Gai held up the orange book and it morphed into a rock. After that, the boy holding it disappeared with no sign. The only thing that told Gai it wasn’t genjutsu was the rock falling onto the ground.

However, the information was enough to make Gai realise what had happened. And it made the man smile. “I see.”

With those words, Gai dispersed into white smoke, unbalancing Yū. Not a moment later, a loud laugh was heard.

The two genin looked up at the roof of another building. 

“You are most youthful, my little enemies!” Gai yelled. “Come at me with all of your strength!”

With that Gai turned around and ran. 

“He’s escaping!” Yū yelled in frustration and jumped onto a building and ran after him.

They chased after Gai past the main gate and further into the forest.

When they caught up, they found Gai standing in a clearing.

“Yosh!” Gai thrusted his first forward in front of him. 

“Land one hit on me in one minute and I will tell who my evil accomplices are,” he said, opening one finger.

“If you cannot do that!” Gai said and raised a second finger. “Then land one hundred hits on me in two minutes!”

“If you cannot do that!” Gai said with much enthusiasm and lifted a third finger. “Then defeat me in three minutes!”

“This eyebrow fuckface is mocking us,” Yū spat.

Gai laughed. “Your words are most youthful! Now come!”

“Stay back and look for openings,” Haru said with a firm voice.

Before she could argue, Haru disappeared and reappeared behind Gai as if from thin air. Haru kicked, but Gai quickly shot an arm out and grabbed the boy’s ankle, only for it to disappear from his grasp as if it never existed.

Gai quickly jumped back, landing on a low tree branch. Just in time to avoid a kick from above that shattered the ground when it hit.

“Your skill is undeniable!” Gai shouted with an impressed grin. “You remind me of Kakashi!”

Haru grimaced. “Please don’t compare me to him, Maito-san.”

Gai laughed heartily. “Yosh! Prepare yourself!”

Haru’s dark eyes widened slightly and he sped to the side. Gai’s fist hit the tree that was behind him, completely destroying the trunk.

Gai didn’t stop there. He jumped at Haru again and the genin had to dodge to the side. Gai swept an arm at Haru’s head, but the boy disappeared then reappeared and threw a punch. It was too fast and to close for Gai to dodge, so he slapped it away instead. The slap rattled Haru to the bones and unbalanced him forcing him to substitute his body with a log at the far end of the clearing.

A kunai was thrown at Gai who jumped away as it exploded. Yū landed next to Haru.

“Don’t you know any Uchiha genjutsu or something?” she asked and Haru shook his head, rubbing his forearm that Gai had slapped. 

“Shitty luck,” Yū said and bared her sharp teeth in a grin. “Just force him to those trees over there. I set up something nasty.”

Haru nodded and slammed his hands onto the ground. Multiple earth spikes suddenly flew at Gai who was forced to jump. Activating his Sharingan, Haru tracked Gai’s trajectory until he found the right moment. With a swipe of his arms, Haru shot a stream of air at Gai that hit him and pushed him towards where Yū indicated.

Suddenly the trees exploded, but with his Sharingan, Haru could see Gai easily dodge everything and escape. Following the speeding man with his eyes, the earth beneath Haru’s hands suddenly cracked as the genin fed chakra into the ground. Just as Gai landed across from them, the ground quaked and quickly shifted and parted, destroyed from within as if by an incredible force. 

Gai jumped many meters back and into the trees. After seeing everything that Haru did and his power, Yū couldn’t help but stare at his back, a blush coming to her face. She quickly shook herself of any distracting thoughts.

“Alright fuckface,” she yelled at Gai. “I saw you get hit with that air jutsu. Now tell us who you’re working with,”

Gai laughed once more. “It would seem you’ve been able to push me this far, but I’m still in the springtime of my youth!”

With that, Gai undid the weights he had on his legs and arms. He dropped the weights to the ground which caused the ground to crack from the immense weight.

“What the hell?” Yū muttered. 

_ First the shithead and now the eyebrow fuckface. _

Internally, Yū knew that if it weren’t for the eyebrows, then Yū would be feeling a really untimely and awkward feeling towards Gai.

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue and focused. “Of course he’s going back on his word.”

Haru glanced at her. “Actually, a minute has already passed. We have approximately the next two minutes to land one-hundred hits on him.”

“That's bullshit,” she said, closing her eyes and bringing two fingers to her temples. “But I should manage a hundred hits just fine. Get ready to just knock him out, genius. We’ll drag him back to the village,”

Suddenly in the pause between attacks, both Haru and Gai noticed how silent it was. There were no sounds of birds or insects. Only the rustling of leaves and the shifting of an abused ground.

After a moment, Yū revealed her sharp teeth in a grin. Suddenly the trees shook. Out from the leaves, countless birds flew towards Gai from all directions. The chirping around them made it seem like there were a thousand birds or more.

However, unbelievably, Gai blurred around in his place snatching the birds out of the air and casting them away from himself. He tried his best not to injure them, but some couldn’t be helped. On top of that, not one bird could get a scratch on him. 

“Stop, Yamanaka-san,” Haru said in a firm voice.

She snapped her eyes open and looked at him in surprise. “What the fuck? Why?”

“This is not a situation that warrants such wasteful disregard of life,” he replied. “There’ll never be, I hope.”

“Are you kidding me? They’re birds!” she yelled. Then she closed her eyes again. “Focus on your job and get the damn bastard,”

For the first time in this world, Haru’s face contorted in anger. His Sharingan eyes changed and shifted into a more sinister pattern. Purplish energy enveloped Haru and he extended a hand. In response, a large hand made of the energy shot towards Gai and grabbed him. 

“Stop. Now,” Haru demanded from Yū. 

With a blink, she complied. 

“Great job,” she said, pleased and impressed while the birds that could fly escaped. “I didn’t know you Uchiha could do something like this. It’s way better than what the Akamichi can do,”

Haru ignored and caused the energy-arm to shorten in length, bringing Gai towards them. The man was looking at Haru in shock before he looked at Yū and grimaced solemnly.

“Who are you working with?” Haru asked in a cold voice while looking at Gai, the other man saw a small pleading look in the genin’s eyes.

Gai chuckled, he would love to go all out, but chose to hold back. “Since you have defeated me, I shall tell you, my youthful little enemies.”

Yū took out a kunai. “Just spit it out already.”

“Your next opponent is,” Gai said with a dramatic pause. “Yuhi Kurenai.”

“Who’s your master?” Yu asked and she entered a staring contest with Gai. He kept silent.

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue and pulled back to throw a poisoned kunai. “At least we confirmed one of the suspects is in cahoots. You’re useless to us now,”

Before she could throw the kunai, a gloved hand caught her wrist, surprising her. She looked back and saw a hooded figure, with a mask painted to resemble a dog. Anbu. 

“We’ll take it from here,” the figure said, their voice echoing from uncanny directions.

Another figure appeared next to Gai and waited for Haru to release him, which the genin did. Upon release, the figure disappeared with Gai.

All the while, the original figure didn’t let go of Yū’s wrist. After a moment he released it. 

“Finish the mission,” the figure ordered and then disappeared.

“Tch,” Yū put away her kunai. “That was  _ our  _ target,”

She looked at Haru. His eyes had returned to their inky-black state. She saw him giving a small smile, but his eyes had some hidden sadness that she also noticed. Her heart fluttered, but pushed back to think about the reasons he was acting odd.

“If not being allowed to hunt was getting to you so much, I’ll let you do it instead,” she offered, then sniggered as she looked around. “Just not in this forest. Shikaku-sama’s gonna blow a gasket,”

She started walking, but stopped. “Oh, and I’ll clean the fish!”

“Very well,” Haru said and his smile widened. “You wanted to be the greatest med-nin ever?”

She reeled back in surprise by the sudden change of subject, but in the end nodded.

Haru waved at the fallen birds around them. Some tried to fly but couldn’t for some strange reason. Others had broken wings. Some were limping strangely. Others weren’t moving at all.

“I think you should heal those injured,” he said.

She scowled. “Don’t tell me what to do!”

He just stared at her and she was quick to crack.

“But there’s so many!” she whined. 

He didn’t let up on his stare and she was quick to give in.

“Fine, whatever,” she said and moped. She moved to the first injured bird. Her hands glowed.

After a few minutes, the bird flew away and she moved to the next one, still moping. 

After a while, Haru asked a question. “How were you able to control them?”

She looked back at him, petulant. “I’m a Yamanaka, how do you think?”

Haru nodded.

“Tch,” she turned to another bird. “Ever since I was little, I found that I could practice my skills with animals. They’re so much simpler than people. Not dumb. Just nicer and less complicated in the head.”

“I see,” Haru said.

They fell into silence for as long as it took her to heal the injured birds. Haru made her bury the dead ones by herself and didn’t even help, much to her chagrin. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 14**

* * *

Fugaku walked down the dimly lit tunnels. His destination being the facility Konoha’s Research division had gotten permission to build over two years ago. As he walked, he couldn’t help but think about earlier that day and he frowned.

_ I told him not to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan. I told him. _

Fugaku would have sighed in annoyance, but didn’t. He continued down the tunnel until he reached the end. He stepped through a hidden barrier and out onto a platform. Any further would lead very far downwards. 

He stood in a cavernous structure the Research division had hollowed out deep underground. The silence echoed around him loudly. Far away, at what he was told was the exact centre, was a small speck of light. If he didn’t have the sharingan, he wouldn’t have been able to even notice it. He mused that a Hyuuga would have no problem covering the entire distance with their sight. The team of scientists that work in this facility had to reassure him, on multiple occasions, that this whole thing wasn’t a waste of space.

After many attempts at explaining the nature of the giant hole under the ground, and failing, the scientists had to settle on just talking about spheres and evolving shapes. Or rather, they had told him something along the lines of the cavern being an imperfect sphere that continuously changed its own shape as it approached perfection. And then something about it changing shape every unimaginable, or rather, unable to be explained to him, fraction of a second.

Various other explanations similarly flew over his head. Though, for his amusement and much to the detriment of Konoah’s scientists’ very delicate sensibilities, he makes a habit of calling the monstrous structure a  _ very good light show _ .

He let his eyes admire the walls closest to him. Soft ethereal light flowed through the walls creating crisscrossing lines that formed a complex circuit-like design. He was told it was a newly generated  _ Equation of Creation _ . 

If he were to look closer at the dark areas outside of the lines, sealing scripts that constantly changed it’s characters seemed to flow all over and in what he was told to be countless layers. He refuses to look closer, however, lest he gets another head-splitting headache by using his Sharingan on the wall.

He was told that, at this point, not even the greatest seal-masters could decipher it as the layers have become uncountable and the characters have begun to take a life of their own.

After admiring just how far this project has gone in just two years, he focused back on matters that he had no trouble comprehending. The current matter being, his head-scientist was a traitor and he was fairly certain about the identity of whom the man had aligned himself with. 

He turned and reached out to an advanced looking metal-embedded obelisk that was connected to the platform he stood on. He pushed chakra into it and he suddenly found himself at the center of the cavernous structure. He had been teleported to a similar obelisk. He looked to be inside a single level structure that could fit a couple of large jonin training grounds in it, plus the entire academy, plus the Hokage Residence.

The structure in the centre had no walls and he was told the floor was  _ very, very flat _ . At least, that was the quick summary he was given after being told it was vaguely similar to the rest of the structure around them in the sense that it constantly changed its shape in an attempt to approach perfect flatness.

He moved his hand to a specific area of the obelisk and with some chakra he was teleported to a busy area where many teams of scientists were working. They all stopped and bowed, before quickly returning to their work.

The head-scientist rushed up to him. 

“Hokage-sama,” the head-scientist, an aged-man whose eyes seemed perpetually closed, bowed. “How do you like the new changes to your workflow?”

“It’s acceptable,” Fugaku said monotonously. 

The head-scientist smiled. “Of course, Hokage-sama. But Hikoboshi can do  _ more _ than storing paperwork.”

“I know,” he stated in reply.

“I must say that today is truly a historical moment. Not even Kumo could imagine something like this. Not even in a thousand years. And it all started with the seals you provided us. You truly are a boon to the progress of science, Hokage-sama.”

“Hn. You may thank the Nidaime for those seals,” Fugaku said, folding one arm over the other.

The head-scientist looked surprised, but the man quickly composed himself. 

“I see. Truly we boil and drink the dirt under his fingernails,” the man said with awe in his voice. “I never knew this was the true extent of Nidaime-sama’s genius.”

Fugaku let loose in full his killing intent. The head-scientist froze in place.

“Please do send him my regards,” Fugake stated. A kunai appeared in his hands and he threw it at the soon-to-be retired head-scientist.

However, the kunai bounced off a barrier that suddenly shielded the traitor. Fugaku blinked before frowning.

_ Is this the extent? _

He allowed his killing intent to disappear and calmly folded his arms to observe. The other man choked for a moment before his shaky hands wiped the sweat from his forehead. The other man then started chuckling.

“To think I would be found out so soon,” he said. “I see you’re not as surprised as I thought you would be.”

“Hn,” was the only sound that came from Fugaku.

“I suppose you want to know why,” the man said with a pause. “ _You_ _Shinobi_ are so powerful, but all you do is fight. Three wars. _Three wars!_ My team died for a system that was supposed to bring peace. All we got was even more destruction once the old era was to have ended.”

“Sacrifices are necessary to accomplish anything,” Fugaku said in a toneless voice, before a small smirk came to his face. “I hear that’s the purpose of this life.”

“ _ Sacrifices, _ ” the traitor repeated and shook his head. “I agree. Today will mark the day that the era of shinobi comes to an end.”

The man opened his arms wide. “With Hikoboshi, I will do what shinobi lack the  _ will  _ to do. To seek out truth. To arrive at heaven’s intent with an ungodly body.”

Without lowering his arms, the man looked upwards and shouted. “Hikoboshi!  _ Activate  _ the Rage of Tentei! Cast this filth away from our realm and beyond the heavenly seas!”

In response, the whit ethereal lines on the walls of the monstrous structure pulsed. Fugaku merely raised an eyebrow as a complex seal seemed to appear in the air in front of the other man.

“Behold!  _ Heavenly Bridge no Jutsu _ !” the man spat mockingly a clearly exaggerated jutsu name.

The seal came to life and a large beam of energy, with almost all colours of the rainbow, shot towards Fugaku.

_ So this is the extent. Just what exactly has been built down here? _

Everything suddenly froze just as the large beam was about to hit Fugaku.

“What?!” the traitor yelled in surprise and looked around him.

Suddenly, the colourful beam exploded into thousands of tiny specks light before the specks disappeared. As the traitor looked around, he noticed his fellow scientists. They were frozen in place. Suddenly, each of his previous colleagues started to disappear as if sand blown away by wind. Everything around them did the same and soon the traitor was left only in darkness.

“What is this?” the man whispered resignedly.

“In this domain, I control everything,” Fugaku’s voice echoed. “Every second outside is five-hundred years in here,”

“H-how?” the traitor asked in horror.

“Such is the power I possess,” Fugaku’s voice said sadly and lacked any arrogance. 

“Sit here till the end of your days,” he said with finality.

Fugaku moved his hand to a specific area of the obelisk and with some chakra he was teleported to a busy area where many teams of scientists were working. They all stopped and bowed, but before they could return to their work the head-scientist suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

“We need a medic!” one scientist shouted and rushed for his former boss.

“Leave him,” Fugaku ordered and everyone froze in obedience. “He is a traitor.”

The pain of betrayal suddenly flashed through some of their eyes while others were in a state of shock. One by one, though, they each glared at the collapsed body.

Fugaku scanned through the scientists and his gaze landed on a young, up and coming, Nara scientist. He couldn't remember the name.

“Nara,” he said and pointed at the young man.

The Nara stood at attention. “Hai, Hokage-sama?”

“You are now in charge,” he stated.

“Hai!” the Nara scientist replied and bowed deeply.

Fugaku gained a thoughtful look. “Has that  _ Neural Clone _ technique been finished yet?”

Staying in his bow, the Nara replied. “The Yamanaka clan haven’t been able to get it to work just right.”

“Does it function?” Fugaku asked. “You may stand,”

The Nara shot up and straightened his back. The young man’s forehead glistened with sweat and he gulped slightly.

“Y-yes, Hokage-sama. It functions,” the Nara replied. “But it kills the subjects right after.”

“And,” Fugaku said slowly. “Has loading a  _ Neural _ Clone into Hikoboshi produced the desired results?”

An excited glint entered the Nara's eyes and the young man’s shoulders relaxed a bit. 

“More than the desired results, Hokage-sama!” the young man said with an excited tone. “Hikoboshi has shown not only the ability to learn from a neural clone, but also the capability to use it to learn new things and look at the world from the perspective of the clone. It has even been able to evolve the clone to simulate various inputs as if it were the original subject themselves. We were even able to—”

The young man stopped speaking when Fugaku put up a hand. 

“I see,” Fugaku said. “Then I want made a  _ Neural _ clone of the traitor, and I want it loaded into Hikoboshi. You are to personally analyse what the traitor did to the system and how to fix it. Report directly to me.”

“Hai!” the Nara scientist quickly bowed once more.

“After this is done, I want the rest of the Archive Library stored into Hikoboshi. And by next year, I don’t want to see a piece of paper at our hospital. Make sure to outfit Intelligence with interfaces to Hikoboshi a priority before the other divisions.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama!” all of the scientists chorused. 

Fugaku reached a hand to the obelisk once more, teleported back to the exit platform, and he passed through the barrier. 

As he walked alone down the dimly lit tunnel, a thought kept going through his mind.

_ To arrive at heaven’s intent, huh. _

* * *

“And then he was like—” Yū leapt into the air and kicked. “Then he was like—” she dodged the side again and again making swishing sounds with her mouth.

All the while, Dan stood to the side listening as she told the day's events. Haru had yet to return as he was fishing them their food.

“He was  _ so _ powerful,” she said dreamily as she looked off to the dusky horizon over the village.

Dan wrote something onto his scroll and made a sign. 

“You do remember he’s, like, half our age or something? His, uh,  _ you know _ , is probably too small to do anything.” the scroll spoke.

That snapped her out of her daze and she sent a punch his way, but it phased through his intangible form. 

“Don’t be a fucking pervert, Dan! You’re a boy, he’s a boy. It won’t work between you two, so give up!” she yelled and puffed her red cheeks.

She smirked as she noticed her words had surprised Dan. She quickly capitalised with a foot to his gut. He flew a few meters backwards and landed harshly on the ground.

“Ghh—” was the only sound that came from him. He rolled onto his knees with groan and shakily walked towards where he dropped his scroll and brush.

“Hmph,” she turned her head away. “Besides, I still hate him. His clan killed my family.”

Dan got to his scroll brush and quickly wrote something.

“You can’t know that for sure. Why’d one of them be made Hokage then?” Dan asked through his scroll.

“Shut up,” she snapped. “My intel sources are solid.”

Dan sighed and shook his head after fixing his slightly crooked mask.

She looked out at the village. Her eyes hardened and she clenched her fists.

“At least you still have family left that  _ actually  _ cares about you,” Dan’s scroll suddenly spoke, distracting her.

She gave a bitter smile. “I’m pretty sure they’re scared of me.”

“Y-yū,” she heard her name spoken with great effort and was almost unintelligible.

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at its source. Dan’s pupil-less purple eyes stared back at her with an intensity she’s never seen before. His white mask held in one hand. His beautiful unblemished face radiating with some kind of determination. 

He brings his free hand up and points his thumb directly at his chest, not breaking the stare.

“Hmph,” she closed her eyes and gave a small smile. “I guess you’re right. I’ve got you. And Inoichi-sama too.”

Dan put his white mask back on. After a few moments of silence, she broke it.

“Your sis is gonna wake up. If she doesn’t, then I’ll get so powerful that I’ll just make her wake up. That's a promise!”

Her stomach then growled. She put her hand on her stomach and winced as if in pain. “Damn it, where’s that fish!”

After another fifteen minutes, Haru still didn’t make an appearance. She looked back at the camp they set up.

“Tch, I’m starting the fire,” she said.

With the fire started, she sat in front of it and stared at the flames. Dan came and sat next to her.

“Oh, yeah!” she said realising something she forgot. “Our next target is Yuhi Kurenai. Did you find her today?“

Dan shook his head and wrote something. “I looked for both, but couldn’t find either.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s kinda suspicious.”

His brush continued writing his next words. “Yū, I think this is a test. There’s no way there’s so many traitors from Konoha.”

“Eh?! You’re saying Sensei lied?” she asked incredulously. “No way. This is a mission. Why else would he give us files straight from the Archive Library? There’s clearly a larger conspiracy if they need  _ us _ to handle things. Our mission is probably contributing to something much, much bigger.”

Dan shrugged. He didn’t know anything, so he couldn’t reply.

A while later, night fully came and Haru finally made his appearance. 

“You’re late!” Yū yelled. “Where the hell were you? How hard is it for a genius to catch a fish?”

Haru pulled out a storage scroll. “I decided to hunt for serow.”

Yū’s mood brighted and rubbed her hands together. “You’re amazing! Let’s see the meat.”

Haru unrolled the storage scroll and pushed chakra into it. A single, cleaned, leg and thigh popped into existence. 

“What? Where’s the rest of it?” Yū asked, confused. 

“I gave away the rest on my way back here,” he said.

“What the fuck, shithead?!”

* * *

**To be continued.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 15**

* * *

“Three days. Three fucking days,” Yū growled as she stomped down Konoha’s streets. The people around her looked disapprovingly at her. 

“Frugality with some words can go a long way, Yamanaka-san,” Haru said as he calmly walked at her side, smiling at the people around him. All the elderly he passed beamed and waved at him, while the younger adults gave a small bow towards him. Dan walked a bit behind him, like he was trying to hide behind Haru but failing. 

“I don’t need a walking dictionary telling me what to do!” she snapped.

“I don’t understand,” Haru said. 

“Just zip it,” she said, missing his small smile because she wasn’t looking at him.

They had been trying to find Yuhi Kurenai for the past three days. They had three more days left to finish the mission.

After trying to look all over the village for their target, Yū just made Dan sneak into the Archive Library to get Yuhi Kurenai’s file. Dan came back empty handed saying that half of the Library was gone and the other half didn’t have any files on Yuhi Kurenai.

She sent him back that same day to get files on Ebisu. He came back empty handed saying that there were no files on Ebisu.

After that, Yū just decided to return to camp for that day.

The day after, Yū marched them up to the main headquarters of Torture and Interrogation. She told them to wait outside while she spoke with someone she called Ibiki. A little while after she entered, the two boys watched as she was thrown out of the top level window. She barely managed to stop from hitting the ground face first. She did stumble on her feet as she landed, though.

After cursing up at a frightful man standing in the shadows of the room she had been thrown from, she decided to go _ find Inoichi-sama _ .

They couldn’t find Yamanaka Inoichi anywhere. So she made them go to the Nara clan to  _ find Shikaku _ .

They couldn’t find Nara Shikaku either.

For a while that day, Yū just stood around while in thought. Then she had gotten the sudden idea to:  _ let’s go find Orochi-tan! _

She led them to one of Orochimaru’s labs, trying to contain, but failing, a really fierce blush as Dan giggled behind her.

They couldn’t find Orochimaru. 

That led to the current day. Yū decided to just walk around while thinking. That was when she spotted the Hyuga Clan head’s wife walking with her kid. She ran up to the woman and asked if she knew Yuhi Kurenai. 

When the older woman nodded with a smile, Yū asked if the Hyuga woman could look for her. 

With an ‘ _ of course, Yū-chan’, _ the woman had activated her Byakugan. She then delivered the devastating news to Yū that Yuhi Kurenai wasn’t in the village. Yū stomped off after a clipped word of thanks to the woman, which seemed to bring motherly worry to said woman.

“I can’t believe it,” Yū said with a hint of dejection in her voice. “I made us fail our mission,”

“Why do you say that?” Haru asked.

“That trap I made for that eyebrow fuckface probably tipped her off,” Yū explained gloomily. “She’s probably long gone by now,”

“Why did you not ask Hyuga-san to help with tracking her?” Haru asked in a mildly curious tone.

“Don’t be stupid. She was spending time with Hinata. Only a total weirdo would ask her to find someone for them,” she snapped.

“My mistake,” Haru said in a solemn tone. “Though, might you know any Inuzuka?”

Yū froze in her tracks and turned her head robotically towards him. Her eyes were narrowed in thin slits as she looked at him.

“Why do you want to know?” she asked suspiciously. 

“If you did, we could ask for their tracking expertise,” he replied.

She quickly turned away from him and started leading them towards the main village exit.

“Forget it,” she said. “We can do this by ourselves.”

She cagily walked before pausing and tilting her ears towards a couple of people talking.

“Did you hear,” one of them whispered to the other. “The Snake Sannin ran away,”

The other nodded and whispered back. “Yeah, I heard he kidnapped kids and did horrible experiments on them. He’d cut them up and—”

“Oi!” Yū roared and pointed at the two. “There’s no way Orochi-tan could do that!”

The two people looked started, before quickly walking away.

“Tch,” Yū said and started walking again. “Spreading stupid rumors.”

But on their way to the village gates, they heard even more whispers and she had to keep herself from exploding or throwing kunais around.

_ “He got away,” _ the whispers said.

_ “Just send your kids to the academy quickly. Hokage-sama will protect them.” _

_ “Did you hear the news?” _

_ “Don’t worry about it. The academy has people to breastfeed them. Just send them there. Hokage-sama is so wise. He’ll protect the rest of us.” _

_ “Our kids aren’t safe even when they’re next to us. Put them in that new Academy program. They’ll be safe living there.” _

_ “I’m pregnant,” _

_ “Don’t worry. The academy has a place for you until you give birth.” _

_ “I don’t think I can leave my newborn behind, but my baby won’t be safe with me either. I don’t think I can live feeling like this.” _

_ “I’m pregnant too. They say it’s twins. The academy will make sure they grow up strong. They won’t ever have to be cut up. They won’t ever be weak like us. You should be honoured, sis.” _

_ “What about my husband?” _

_ “Isn’t he training to be an Elite Konoha Officer?” _

_ “Hey, did you hear about—” _

Yū slapped her hands onto her ears and screamed loudly. The people around her were scared off, but she still sped up to a quick sprint.

The gates quickly entered her sight, but something else did too. Or rather, someone very familiar. Yū paused as she spotted the back of lithe kunoichi not much older than herself. The kunoichi’s short violet-coloured hair rustled in the breeze. 

Yū grinned and ran. She jumped to tackle the kunoichi from behind, but unlike all the other times, the kunoichi didn’t do anything, which left Yū awkwardly sprawled on top of the kunoichi she just felled.

Yū leaned forward and tipped the kunochi’s head to the side so she could stare at the pupil-less brown eyes she was very familiar with. 

“Hey, Anko, your face is gonna bruise badly tomorrow,” Yū snarked. “Hey, why haven’t you shown me this cool tattoo before? I want one.”

Anko didn’t move. She just blankly stared into space. 

Yū started tapping a knuckle on Anki’s exposed forehead. “Are you brain dead or something?”

As she tapped a third time, Yū was jolted as foreign thoughts entered her mind.

_ He didn’t even come back to take me with him. Why didn’t he come back? Why didn’t he take me with him? Why? Why? _

* * *

**The Previous Night**

_ “Why didn’t you take the backup with you,”  _ Shikaku suddenly blasted his voice into Fugaku’s mind with the help of Inoichi.

_ “I’ve decided on a different plan,” _ Fugkau replied through the mental link Inoichi created. 

Fugaku was sitting in a tree under the dark cloudy sky. Waiting. He glanced to the side at Shisui.

_ “I don’t need people getting in the way of a dangerous jutsu,” _ Fugaku said after the pause.

_ “Why do I get the feeling you’re keeping us in the dark,” _ Shikaku replied, with a mental sigh.

_ “Uchiha Clan Secret,” _ Fugaku stated.

_ “Right. Of course it is,” _ Shikaku sarcastically shot back.

Just then, Inoichi decided to pipe up.  _ “Why don’t we just contact Sandaime-sama? He’s nearby?” _

_ “Shikaku was the one who told me that the old man won’t have the heart for it. If Orochimaru gets to me, it means Shikaku is right. If he doesn’t, it means I don’t have to do anything except fire you for getting too lazy.” _

_ “I hope I’m wrong then,” _ Shikaku replied wryly. 

An explosion was heard in the distance. A few minutes of silence passed as they readied themselves. Their muscles tightened. They both activated their Mangekyou sharingan. Fugaku closed the mental connection.

“He’s here,” Shisui whispered, making Fugaku glare at the boy for a quick moment.

* * *

Orochimaru’s pale form walked through the low brush. A dark smile on his face. He allowed his head to turn to where he heard the whisper and a pair of red eyes caught his sight. 

His smile turned into a manic grin as the world around dissolved into complete darkness. A dark chuckle escaped him.

“ _So_ _many_ hidden abilities,” Orochimaru said gleefully. “An unbreakable illusion. If only I was actually here to experience it.”

The snake sannin suddenly made an abrupt exit.

* * *

Fugaku’s eyes connected with Orochimaru and he captured the Snake Sannin in his Tsukuyomi. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

He grabbed a startled Shisui by his hair, enveloping himself and the boy in a dark red construct as he pulled himself and the boy as far away as possible. 

The moment he did, the area Orochimaru stood in flashed with a great white light and a dome of bright energy exploded outwards.

Fear entered Fugaku’s heart as he knew what it was. 

_ Dohatsuten. _

But just as he thought it would reach him and go further, it seemed to reach its maximum size. This baffled Fugaku as he floated in the air inside Susanoo. Suddenly a great pillar of smoke erupted and a gigantic snake appeared. Standing on top was Orochimaru, avoiding the gaze of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

“Beautiful was it not,” the Snake Sannin chuckled. “Please, let us skip the pleasantries. I greatly respect you Fugaku. I adore what you have done with this village and the progress you have allowed me to make. However, I am running out of time before Sarutobi-sensei catches up,”

Orochimaru paused theatrically to give a manic grin. 

“I assure I have also modified the Dohatsuten to have a far larger radius than ever imaginable,” the Sannin pointed towards the two inside Susanoo. “Give me Shunshin no Shisui and I shall leave Konoha in peace.”

“Very well,” Fugaku said tonelessly. “Catch,”

Fugaku, still holding Shisui by his hair, suddenly tossed him out of his Susanoo and towards Orochimaru. This action surprised the Snake Sannin, however, it seemed too late for him. Shisui unleashed his prepared technique causing Orochimaru to freeze. His snake summon suddenly burst into smoke. 

Blind in one eye and not having enough stamina to do much, he continued the trajectory Fugaku had thrown him in, then gravity brought him downwards. He crashed through the trees and into the forest ground below.

Fugaku quickly lowered Susanoo and dispelled the summoned construct. He landed next to Orochimaru’s body, however, it quickly became apparent that it was just a husk. Shedded just like a snake would its skin.

He brought his hands together into a sign just as a blade pierced his back and came out of his stomach. 

Orochimaru whispered into Fugaku’s ears. “To think that the Sharingan has such an ability, even now its effects are hard to resist.”

“Fuuin!” Fugaku grunted and pushed chakra outwards. 

Orochimaru’s eyes widened, but that was all he could do as the Snake Sannin suddenly found himself suddenly occupying a seal between Fugaku’s shoulder blades.

The disappearance of Orochimaru’s sword from his gut caused him to vomit blood. 

Just then, Sarutobi Hiruzen appeared next to him in battle robes. 

“Follow any tracks!” Hiruzen shouted the order to the Anbu around him. He quickly put a hand on Fugaku’s back.

“Hn.” Fugaku intoned in amusement. “Get Shisui a medic. I’ll be fine.”

Sarutobi then had to prevent Fugaku from crashing into the ground as the man lost consciousness.

* * *

Fugaku appeared inside inky darkness. Above him, large, yellow, serpentine eyes looked at him.

“To think that you were so desperate to use  _ this antiquated  _ prototype,” Orochimaru’s voice menacingly echoed around him. “My very own jinchuuriki. I’m  _ honoured _ .”

“What have you done to yourself?” Fugaku asked.

“Why, I have evolved, of course. To gain all knowledge in this world. To know all Jutsu. To never know death.”

“Hn.” Fugaku was unimpressed. “Why were you able to resist?”

A dark chuckle erupted and the serpentine eyes drew closer. For a second, Fugaku could only feel fear as he realised he was unable to judge the distance accurately inside this seal. The serpentine eyes appeared large at a glance, but as they drew closer, he came to realise that their size were unimaginable. Something large seemed to slither around him.

Orochimaru’s eyes stopped some distance away from his first ever jailor. 

“Oh, my. You want to know why that mind control trick isn’t working?” Orochimaru asked rhetorically. “To reach my level, you need to have touched your very soul. To know yourself fully. Do you know yourself Fugaku?”

Orochimaru drew closer to Fugaku. 

“Foolish child. You should have not been so hasty to use this seal. Between every thought you have I will be there. I will be whispering. The question is, can you resist  _ me _ ? Is your will stronger than  _ mine _ ?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Fugaku sat in his office, rubbing his aching eyes. An Anbu suddenly appeared before him to let him know that Sarutobi Hiruzen was asking to enter. Fugaku nodded, giving his permission.

Not a moment later, Hiruzen entered. 

“You should be at the hospital,” Hiruzen greeted, a grim look on his face over recent events.

“I have faith in the Anbu medics,” Fugaku replied and waved a hand over to a couch. 

Hiruzen took the offered seat, looking older than he ever had before.

“Anko-chan is—not well,” Hiruzen said, appearing extremely saddened. “I have identified that the seal on her somehow draws in Natural Energy, however, I don’t know for what purpose. I have sent word to the Toads. Hopefully, Jiraya will be able to easily resolve this matter.”

Hiruzen took out a pipe, lit it, and gave a few puffs. The action, however, seemed to fail at helping him relax.

“I am told by Inoichi that she has lost her will to live. Even now, he is trying to help her get it back. I’ve ordered him to change her memories so that her feelings of being abandoned, her feelings of love and attachment towards Orochimaru, all are to be made out as manipulated and falsely implanted.”

Fugaku frowned. “Would that really work?”

“I can only hope,” the old man replied and closed his eyes for a moment. “She was so bright. Her spark of life had been refreshing. Now, because of my old student and his ambitions, she may never recover. If she does, her colleagues and fellow shinobi may look at her with suspicion for a long time.”

Hiruzen leaned back, a look of great regret on his face.   
  
“That is why, whether she recovers or not, I will take her in as family and, if she so chooses, I will become her teacher.” Hiruzen said, mostly to himself.

“What do you know about Yamanaka Yū?” Fugaku asked as he steepled his fingertips, resting his elbows on his paperless desk.

Hirzuen chuckled.    
  
“Hm? I heard she was the one who found Anko-chan. Another lively young girl,” he replied. “But also quite attached to Orochimaru, if to a lesser extent. I originally believed she grew closer to my  _ old student _ because of her friendship with Anko-chan, however, I came to realise that she idolised Orochimaru’s power as much as she idolised the man himself for being a teammate of Tsunade.”

Hiruzen leaned forward. 

“Keep an eye on her. She has the blood of two clans which has strengthened her Yamanaka half. My  _ old teammate _ wouldn’t take her at this stage, but I wouldn’t put it past him to attempt to manipulate her to his own ends.”

Fugaku nodded in understanding. 

“With Orochimaru's escape, our village has been weakened,” Fugaku stated, closing eyes as a hidden tremor went throughout his body. “How likely is it that Senju Tsunade can be convinced to return?”   
  
“I’m afraid that there’s no chance of that happening,” Hiruzen replied sadly.

* * *

All three sat on top of the Hokage mountain as the hour drew closer to midnight. The night was cool and their breaths fogged as they exhaled. The stars shone brightly, the moon rising from the horizon, and the village below them was in a fitful sleep.

Yū sat cross-legged, her fingers to her temples, and an intense look of concentration on her face. She had been like that for three days and two nights. Bags could be seen under her eyes as she refused to sleep. In the coming morning, if they couldn't accomplish anything, they would fail their mission. So, Yū pushed every ounce of power she had outwards. She took control of any animal that could fly, walk, slither, crawl, or even swim. She gave them only one order. Search out. Find Yuhi Kurenai.

For three days and two nights, she kept this up nonstop. She didn’t even stop to eat despite her stomach growling uncomfortably. She didn’t stop to drink either. During those days, Haru didn’t eat or drink anything in front of her or Dan, except for something small in the morning, and something small at sunset all the while disappearing at five different times each day. Dan chose to not eat at all.

All of a sudden, Yū jumped upwards. “I found the bitch!”

She whirled on her teammates. “Quick, get me some water and meat. I feel like I’m dying!”

Haru pulled out a scroll and some water. She jumped the distance towards him, snatched the water and drank it up. Then she took the scroll and unsealed some cooked meat. She quickly devoured it.

“You’re amazing. We’d make some really strong babies together,” she said offhandedly and without much thought in her tired brain. She wiped the grease off her mouth and was unaware of Haru taking a few silent steps backwards, nor did she notice the awkward fidgeting from Dan. 

She took another gulp of water and sighed contentedly. She then put on a business-like expression.

“Alright, guys. Our target’s camped just north of the village. If run really fast, we could probably get there in an hour,”

Dan shrugged, seemingly getting over his friend's antics.

Haru, on the other hand, seemed like a frightened deer for a moment. But gathered himself, though, his eyes remained abnormally wide. 

“I see,” Haru said. “We should start covering the distance,”

“Yeah!” Yū shouted, then she ran and jumped off the edge of the mountain. She skidded down until she reached the Yondaime’s head, before she jumped. Her teammates followed her.

They ran to the village gate and straight past the gate watchers. 

“Hey!” one of the gate watchers shouted. “Get back—”

“Let them,” his partner said, equally surprised and shocked. “We just got orders to let them pass,”

“At this time of night?” the first gate watcher asked, exasperatedly.

“It’s straight from the Jonin Commander,” came the reply.

* * *

All three flitted through the tree branches.

“It is unwise to rush in like this without a plan,” Haru stated calmly. 

“Forget planning. She might get away if we take too much time. Besides, I think I’ve finally figured out how to read people’s minds. So this should go much smoother than with that eyebrows guy,”

“We had information on Maito-san. We lack it for Yuhi-san,” Haru said.

“We can’t always have information when we like it,” Yū shot back in annoyance. “Sometimes we just have to act and hope for the best. Besides, I get it now. I get why there’s so many traitors from Konoha. It’s because they’re all following Orochi-ta— _ maru _ .”

Writing in his scroll as he jumped between branches, Dan made his hand sign and his scroll spoke for him. “I don’t know, Yū. I feel like you’re overthinking this one. I still think this is a test. Otherwise, why would Sensei give us information on certain suspects but not others?”

Haru nodded in agreement.

Yū, however, stopped very suddenly on a large tree branch. She clenched her fists and shook with fury. 

“ _ Unless, _ ” she whispered. Then glared beyond the openings in the forest canopy up at the stars. “Unless Sensei is also traitor,”

Dan stared at her and scratched his head.

“It makes sense. I heard what everyone was saying. Orchi-ta— _ maru _ experimented on people. Who does our team consist of?” she asked and looked at both Dan and Haru, before pointing at them. “A Maboroshi, a really strong Uchiha, and—”

She pointed at herself, but stopped herself from saying anything, though, Dan seemed to to understand. 

“So, a team consisting of really valuable  _ subjects _ . Orochi _ maru _ still would have had influence to get a traitor-sensei to take us as a team. Orochimaru then suggests to that  _ Uchiha Hokage _ that since we could be a really strong team, we should get a really strong test disguised as a mission. The mission would take us out of the village. Since that eyebrows guy failed, he gave us our next target which leads us to now, standing outside the village,”

“If Orochimaru was interested in us,” Haru starts saying with a thoughtful tone. “Why could he not simply take us whenever he wanted?”

This makes Yū scratch her head. After some thought she sighs. “Maybe you’re right and this is a test. Or maybe it’s an actual mission.  _ Or _ maybe it's a trap.”

She turns around and looks into the distance. “We’ll get our answers when we capture this bitch.”

She leaps forward and they follow. Yū places her fingers in concentration once more. “She’s still there.”

She turns back to her teammates once more. 

“Alright, Dan. You go ahead of us and wait for an opening,” she ordered. 

Dan nodded and slowly became invisible, surprising Haru. 

“I did not know there was such a technique,” Haru said. 

Yū smirked at him. “Oh, you’ll have to make do with Jiraya-sama’s invisibility jutsu if you ever come across it. You won’t be able to copy what Dan just did. It’s special to his clan only.”

The two stopped on a branch.

“I see,” Haru replied.

Silence fell between the two as Yū stared intensely at Haru.

This made Haru clear his throat, successfully snapping Yū out of her stare. “What are we going to do?”

“Right,” she said with a hidden blush. “We’ll just do the same as what we did for Eyebrows,”

Haru frowned. “Which part?”

She gave a sharp-toothed grin. “All of it.”

* * *

Haru stood on a branch, frown on his face, and arms crossed.

“Oh, stop being a sourpussy,” Yū called out as she flitted all over, placing her explosive tags all over the trees around them. “If you’re that concerned about the trees, then don’t be. These aren’t like the ones at the Nara forest. These ones were made by Shodaime himself. They’re pretty tough.”

“Still,” Haru said quietly, but didn’t continue.

All of the sudden, Dan reappeared next to Haru. Yū noticed.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked.

“She’s not there,” Dan’s scroll voiced.

Yū frowned and placed her fingers in concentration. She opened her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense, she’s  _ still  _ there,”

All of a sudden, a strong killing intent hit them, causing Yū and Dan to sweat a bit, while Haru looked around warily, having uncrossed his arms and gotten into a fighting stance.

A feminine chuckle echoed around them. 

“That’s quite the skill in tracking, kid,” a woman’s voice echoed. “But even the smallest insect can fall to genjutsu,”

All of a sudden, vines shot at Yū and trapped her. 

“Did you think,” the woman’s voice continued. “That just because you controlled them, that the information you received was reliable?”

“I wonder,” the woman spoke and frightening shadows flitted through the trees. Incomprehensible whispers brushed against Yū’s ears. “What is it that you’re most afraid of,”

The forest canopy above Yū suddenly opened with a frightful sound, like a giant gate creaking open or maybe like a giant dam breaking; a rush of water with a horrible flood promised. 

There, covering the sky, red eyes looked down at her. Nine tails swirled about the being. Yū knew she was in a genjutsu. She did her best to break it, but it wasn’t enough.

* * *

  
“Hm, you guys broke out pretty easily,” Yuhi Kurenai’s red eyes stared at the two boys on the branch across from hers.

She let go of the girl’s head, letting her start falling off the high branch. The Maboroshi jumped after Yū, while the Uchiha remained. 

“Yuhi-san,” Uchiha Haru spoke. “Why all of this for a test?”

_ So cute! And so polite! His cheeks look so soft and pokeable. _

“You're Hokage-sama's nephew. I’d imagine you’d know more than me,” Kurenai replied.

The boy suddenly broke the subtle genjutsu she had thrown at him while speaking.

“Do you honestly believe that?” Haru asked, tilting his with curiosity. 

_ Dang, Hana’s got a real treasure. Colour me jealous. _

She shrugged in reply. “Of course not.”

Suddenly, the boy stumbled and she smirked. “Ah, it seems you’ve never encountered smell-based genjutsu,”

The boy activated his sharingan. She frowned. “I didn’t know you already had those eyes. I heard you can only get them through pain and tragedy.”

The boy closed his eyes and a small breeze engulfed him. He opened his eyes, standing more stable.

“You have heard mostly correctly,” he stated calmly. “Strong emotion is the basis for the Sharingan’s activation.”

This made Kurenai’s heart clench in sorrow.

“I’m sorry,” she said. 

Haru smiled kindly. “Whatever for, Yuhi-san?”

The smile was going to haunt her forever. She put a hand behind her back, and unsealed a small bell from a storage seal placed between her fore and middle fingers. She put chakra into the bell, and with some concentration, she gave a small jingle. 

The result was Haru falling to his knees, his hands grabbing his head. 

“Sound-based genjutsu,” she said. “It’s a pain to deal with,”

“I-indeed,” Haru said through clenched teeth. 

She shook the small bell once more, causing Haru to collapse into unconsciousness.

All of a sudden, a kunai came out of thin air and dug deep between her eyes. Her clone popped as she now stood on a different branch. She stared in surprise at the Maboroshi. 

“Did you know that I switched with a clone before you did that?” she asked.

Maboroshi Dan shook his head in the negative.

Kurenai’s eyebrows twitched. “Then kid, you’ve got some anger issues.”

Dan made a hand sign for his scroll. “Yū almost broke her neck in that fall.”

Kurenai winced. “Sorry about that. I thought she was at an angle where she’d just sprain her ankle or dislocate her arm or something.”

Dan just stared at her through his mask.

_ What a creepy mask _ .

Then he growled and became invisible. 

She looked around herself slowly. “I’ve heard about the Maboroshi. They have the ability to evade all senses. Impressive.” 

She jumped to a higher branch just as another kunai came at her.

“I’m sure if you were more experienced, I’d be dead before I knew it,” she said. 

Dan reappeared next to Haru and he shook the younger boy, trying to wake him up.

“I’m afraid he’ll be quiet out of it for a while,” she said.   
  
And right after she said that, Haru groaned and got to his knees.

She looked in surprise once more. “Nevermind. You guys are going to be monsters when you grow up.”

“I’d rather not be one,” Haru said as he shakily stood.

“Sorry honey, that’s just the world we live in,” she said, holding back tears. 

“Then I’ll just change the world,” Haru said with a smile.

All of a sudden, an angry roar was heard far below them. 

“Huh,” Kurenai said. “Maybe she’s the one with the anger issues.”

Dan nodded.

“Well, I’m honestly impressed with you guys. I don’t think we need to go further. I’ll just tell Aoba you passed his tests. What do you think?”

“Yosh!” Maito Gai suddenly appeared behind Dan and Haru, clapping them on their backs quite hard. “These young ones are most youthful. You have indeed passed the tests,”

“Where’s Aoba anyway?” Kurenai asked. “Did he fall asleep at our camp?”

All of a sudden, Yū yelled from below. “Take cover guys!”

Haru looked confused for a single moment, but that moment could have cost him. Dan quickly took Haru’s arm and allowed his phasing abilities to affect the young Uchiha. 

The world suddenly brightened as all the explosive tags went off.

* * *

“Seriously, you need to hold off on the explosives,” Aoba said, his three genin standing in front of him while his  _ accomplices _ stood next to him. “Do you know how much I’ve been chewed and spit out because of you?”

Yū stared at him. “ _ So _ —you’re not a traitor?”

Aoba chuckled and shook his head. “No, I’m not a traitor.”

She pointed Gai. “And he’s not a traitor?”

“Never!” Gai replied and stuck out his thumb with a bright grin.

“And the bitch isn’t a traitor?” she asked pointing at Kurenai.

Said woman’s forehead twitched and she unconsciously let out a retort. “You’re the bitch.”

Yū scowled and looked offended for a moment. Then she huffed and put her hands behind her head. “Well, at least you’re still hot.”

This made Kurenai splutter for a quick moment and Gai bellowed out a laugh.

Aoba just smiled and started speaking. “Honestly, I was just planning on giving you guys a smaller test. To find out if you could work as a team or not. That’s how it’s mostly been done for the past few years.

“But Hokage-sama ordered me to come up with something intense. He wants a strong team that could eventually replace the Sannin in power or exceed. I had to come up with something good. So, I took inspiration from Nidaime-sama who once tested his team for a whole month. Mind you, this was during war. 

“So, I just dialed it down a bit. Shikaku-sama was expecting something else.” Aoba chuckled. “I’m glad I could defy his great mind. You guys have shown a lot. You’ve shown me that you can work as a team.   
  
“Yamanaka Yū, you’ve shown me that you can make solid plans if given enough information and the  _ right  _ parameters. Your combat ability is alright, but your ability to set traps as well as use your innate abilities of your Yamanaka blood is beyond impressive. I’m sure that one day, you’ll have the right attitude and power to become Hokage.”

Yū grinned.

“Uchiha Haru. You are a true prodigy of combat. I’m certain that with more training, you can one day surpass even Madara. Plus you’re smart, funny, and the village likes you. So I’m sure that, if you put your mind to it, you could give Yū-chan a run for her money at being Hokage.”

Yū narrowed her eyes at Haru while the latter just replied: “I don’t gamble.”

Aoba chuckled and shook his head.

“Maboroshi Dan.” Aoba paused as he realised he couldn’t gather much on the boy. “You’re a good friend. You support your team well.”

When it looked like Dan was expecting more, Aoba had to wrack his brain for more words. “Always seek to improve.”

Dan took out his scroll and started writing. After a few moments, nothing happened. Aoba blinked.

“Are you taking notes?” he asked, uncertain.

The boy looked up and stared at Aoba through his mask, then proceeded to nod, before focusing back on his writing.

“Right,” Aoba said, chuckling awkwardly. “Well, you guys aren’t done for the night yet. You’ll have to go give your reports,”

“Reports?” Haru asked.

“Yeah, what do you mean reports? I thought you said this was a test?” Yū protested. 

“I said it was a mission,” Aoba said.

Yū looked annoyed and pointed at him. “You just want us to do your paperwork.”

Aoba chuckled as did Kurenai. 

“Trust me,” Aoba said. “The new system is way more fun. We’ll even come do it with you at the same time,”

“Yosh!” Gai cried out. “Whoever gets there first must do a thousand push ups and if they can’t do that, then we’ll do ten-thousand laps around the village!” 

Gai leapt into the trees towards the destination.

“What an inspiring man,” Haru said with awe.

* * *

Fugaku stood in darkness. He frowned.

“Why have you brought me here again?” he asked.

However, there was no answer.

After a while of walking in the darkness a familiar voice called out.

“Father,” 

He turned and saw his son, Itachi, standing still while tears fell down his face. Fugaku noticed that his son had activated the first stage of the sharingan.

“What makes you cry, Itachi?” Fugaku asked, with a hint of worry.

But his eyes widened as a sword suddenly pierced his son’s abdomen. A shadow coalesced behind his impaled son into a fearful figure with a mask. A single eye hole present and a Mangekyo Sharingan blazing with rage.

Fugaku jerked awake. He found himself in front of his desk in his office. He reached a shaky hand to the center of the desk and tapped it. A map of the entire Country of Fire appeared before him. Thousands of names moved slowly around various locations or stayed still. His eyes landed on his son’s team and the Daimyo’s convoy. They were camping for the night.

“Inu,” Fugaku called out and an Anbu, with dog-like markings on their mask, appeared. “I need you to catch up with my son's team. Leave now and take your own team. Protect them from all threats,”

The Anbu nodded and disappeared.

_ ‘Do you base all your decisions on mere dreams, Fugaku?’ _ Orochimaru’s voice spoke in his mind.

_ ‘How?’ _ Fugaku wondered at the violation of privacy.

A dark chuckle spread through his mind.  _ ‘I told you. This seal is an antiquated prototype. It was made known in order to weaken other villages by making their Jinchuuriki unstable. Only Sunagakure didn’t have the minds to make their own seals. I wonder. Did you get this from Sarutobi-sensei’s old teammate? Oh my, oh my. Is this an assasination attempt? Oh, the intrigue!’ _

Fugaku clenched fists. He stumbled out of his chair and went through a string of hand signs. He slammed his hand into the ground and summoned an obelisk. He touched a certain area and found himself teleported to place only he will ever know and be able to access.

With further hand signs, he slammed his hand once more into the ground and a single coffin rose from the ground and stood upright.

_ ‘To think that you would go as far as to use this technique. Truly Fugaku, you are an inspiring specimen.’ _

The lid to the coffin opened and fell to the ground. Fugaku took his shirt off and kneeled, baring his back to the open coffin. 

“Fix this,” Fugaku ordered.

Out from the shadows of the coffin, a fair-skinned man with shaggy silver hair and dark red eyes appeared. He slowly walked towards the Uchiha Hokage and sent a pulse of chakra into the man's back, revealing the seal.

“I thought I destroyed this,” the man spoke. “Which Bijuu did you seal?”

“No,” Fugaku said. “Orochimaru.”

The man blinked in surprise. “My grand-niece’s teammate?”

* * *

**To be continued.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 17**

* * *

Yū, Dan, and Haru meandered towards the hospital to meet with Aoba for their mission.

"I mean honestly," Yū said. "I knew we'd get D-ranks, but I thought maybe, after that _test_ we'd get something out of the village,"

"They thrive on crushing our hopes," Dan's scroll voiced.

Haru just walked silently behind them. A shadow from the rooftops made itself known.

"Hey there!" Shisui called out and jumped down in front of them. "I'm Shisui."

"As in, Shunshin no Shisui?" Yū asked after coming to stop.

Shisui nodded enthusiastically.

"Cool," she said with a grin. "But why do you look like crap?"

The description put a bit of a damper on Shisui's enthusiasm, but not by much.

"What happened to you?" Haru asked in a mildly worried tone.

Shisui was mostly wrapped in bandages. His arm was in a cast, and he had half his face also wrapped in bandages.

"Oh, you know. I got into a fight. Fugaku-sama threw me out of the sky. Y'know, the usual,"

"The Hokage threw you _out_ of the sky?" Yū asked, looking very intrigued.

"Yep, but I can't tell you the story, though," he replied, making her scowl.

"Did you lose your eye?" Haru asked.

"I didn't _lose_ it," Shisui retorted. "I just, maybe, _might_ have blinded myself,"

"That sucks," Yū said thoughtfully.

"My condolences," Haru said in a solemn tone.

"I'm not dead, Haru," Shisui said, poking his own chest and wincing at his self-inflicted pain. "I'm still here."

"Not if you cannot keep up while sparring Itachi," Haru replied, closing his eyes in a sad fashion.

Shisui paled.

"Way to kill my mood," Shisui grumbled.

The older boy then looked at Dan.

"Whoah, you're really creepy," Shisui said as he put his face close to Dan's mask, trying to see the boy's eyes but failing.

"Hm," was all the sound Dan made.

Shisui blinked. "Are you like, half Uchiha?"

Yū looked annoyed for a moment. "Dan can't talk and he's Maboroshi, _not_ Uchiha."

"Oh," Shisui said, then looked at Yū. "Are you supposed to be a blonde Inuzuka or something? I didn't know they could be pupil-less too."

Yū bristled.

"Or maybe a cat clan? Are you related to Neko-baa?" he asked. "Though, I'm pretty sure I've seen eyes like yours before."

"Shut up," she snarled and jumped at him.

Shisui flashed behind Haru in an attempt to hide. "Careful with that one, Haru. She just might want to make babies with you. I know her type."

Shisui shuddered and muttered something that sounded like ' _Anko'_.

This caused Yū to blush like a storm and if steam could come out of her ears it would.

"Oh, maybe she's not as shameless as I thought. Sorry for assuming," Shisui said apologetically.

Yū muttered a quiet ' _Fuck you'_.

"I'd rather not," Shisui retorted.

Haru looked back at the older boy with a level stare.

"Trust me," Haru said monotonously. "I have had enough of children to last me my lifetime,"

Shisui reared back and laughed hard and with a lot of pain involved. "Haha. My ribs. Haha. And here I thought you actually loved playing with Sasuke, Ha!"

"I do," Haru replied.

Shisui started tearing up. "You're making me emotional, Haru. Damn it."

Suddenly an Anbu appeared across from them. "Sir, you need to quietly come with me."

Shisui took up a petulant attitude. "What if I don't want to?"

"We're authorised to knock you out if necessary," the Anbu replied.

Shisui raised an eyebrow. "Prove it."

Suddenly a tag appeared on the back of Shisui's forehead out of nowhere, immediately knocking him unconscious. Another Anbu had appeared behind the boy to catch him.

The Anbu looked at the genin. "Uh. Carry on."

Then both Anbu disappeared.

A moment of silence.

"Did your cousin just get kidnapped?" Dan's scroll asked.

"I am certain they were returning him to the hospital," Haru replied.

They both then noticed Yū staring intensely.

"What do you mean you've had enough children?" she asked. Then her eyes gave a glint of focus. "Don't tell me your _clan_ gave you a harem or something?"

Haru looked exasperated, though a flash pain was missed in his eyes. "I have many wives and many more children. I have daughters whom I love dearly and very brave sons. I have great-grandchildren two-hundred strong."

Yū's mood darkened into something akin to depression. "Let's just get to the hospital."

She robotically turned and started walking with her head hung low.

"Fuck me," she whispered depressingly to herself.

"You didn't have to reject her like that," Dan's scroll said.

Haru looked at him and they stared at each other.

"It was a mean joke. 'I've had enough _of_ children'. She just misheard what you _actually_ said to your cousin because she was distracted," Dan wrote, and they stared at each other some more.

"Right?" Dan wrote and shifted on his feet awkwardly.

Haru gave a small smile. "This body of mine is six years old. It has not even reached puberty."

"You're such a little troll," Dan's scroll said, while the boy himself chuckled behind his mask.

* * *

They reached the hospital and Aoba was waiting outside. He noticed that Yū was looking gloomy.

"I get it," Aoba said. "We all hated the D-ranks too. But there'll be a time when we look back at them and realise they're one of the precious memories we have,"

"Huh?" Yū looked up at her sensei, confused.

"Let's get started then," he said as he turned towards the entrance.

Yū sighed and asked: "Why aren't we getting our mission from the _Mission_ Desk?'

"This mission has always been assigned by the Hospital, so it just saves time to get it directly from here," he replied.

"What's the mission?" she asked.

"You'll see," he said. "New teams usually always get this one first. It's like a tradition."

When they got inside, a blonde-haired nurse ran up to them. However, the moment she spotted Yū, she became sour.

"Damn it. It's _you_ ," the nurse spat.

Yū smirked and waved. "Yo, turd-face."

Aoba adjusted his sunglasses. "Is there a problem?"

"I really hope not," the nurse said and handed Aoba some body storage seals. "Your team's got the A-list this time. I really hope you don't come back with full scrolls because of death by high-blood pressure. Some of them are ancient."

"Don't worry," Aoba said. "I'll make sure my team is on their best behaviour."

The nurse nodded and ran to do other duties.

"Tch," Yū crossed arms. "What's this A-list?"

"Follow me, I'll explain on the way," he moved to exit the building and his team followed.

Aoba was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.

"The hospital provides a program which allows the elderly to see the faces of fresh genin. Faces of youth outside of their families to help brighten their day or just feel more connected to the village as the generations pass."

"That's nice," Yū said and put her hands behind her head.

Aoba nodded.

"After the Kyuubi rampaged through the village," he said and noted how Yū stumbled. "Many elderly were left with no family and no neighbors to help look after them. Sandaime-sama decreed that Konoha's hospital would extend their program to ensure that these elderly would have regular visits by young genin teams."

He stopped and looked at Yū. "Many of these elderly are in fragile states and very advanced in age. It would not be good to _startle_ them in any way. Perhaps with surprisingly _strong_ words or brash attitudes."

"Tch," Yū looked hurt. "I get it, I'll just stay away from them."

"I'm not asking that of you. They'll love to see you, I'm sure. I'm asking you to—well that is to, um. I'm asking—well, I'd rather Haru take the lead on this one."

"Huh? So, I just have to follow him?" Yū asked, confused. Then she grinned. "Easy!"

"Aright guys, do this by yourselves. I'll be hanging back to watch."

* * *

Haru knocked on the door. It took a few moments, but it finally opened. A very old woman with eyes narrowed in slits looked out and saw him. Her face suddenly became overjoyed.

"Oh, Haru-chan! You came again so soon?" she said and opened the door wider.

"Yes, Toki-obaa-san," Haru replied with a smile. "I brought my team with me this time."

"Oh?" Toki looked and her eyes landed on Yū's hair. "Is that you, Tsunade-chan?"

"I'm—" she suddenly stopped when Dan pinched her. She glared at him.

"That is Yamanaka Yū," Haru said.

"Oh, silly me. A Yamanaka," Toki said and chuckled. "Every time I see a blonde, I think about Tsunade-chan or Jiraya's little toad apprentice,"

Yū looked confused for a moment before it clicked. "Hey, wouldn't that be the dead—"

Dan quickly slapped his hand over her mouth, causing her to glare at him some more.

"Hm?" Toki looked over Dan, before she suddenly screamed in horror.

Haru, though startled, quickly moved to stabilise her footing so she didn't fall over. Dan, on the other hand, quickly disappeared.

"Quickly, children. Come on!" she nudged Haru inside. Yū followed, but not before looking up at a rooftop and sticking out her tongue.

When they got to the living room, Haru helped her as she shakily sat down in a very comfortable-looking armchair.

"O-oh. O-oh," she breathed slowly trying to calm herself. "That was one of Tobirama-sama's shadows. It's bad luck if you ever catch a glimpse of them. It always ruins your day."

Yū smirked and didn't say anything. She was glad when Haru kept quiet too.

The old woman then looked at Yū once more. "So, a Yamanaka. I always dreamed of being one. They have such a nice clan."

"It's not that great," Yū grumbled.

Toki laughed snortingly. "I came from a very large family and was the youngest, so I can understand your point of view."

"Yeah," Yū responded hesitantly.

"Where's your other teammate?" Toki asked.

Before Haru could speak, Yū blurted a quick lie. "He had to deal with something _urgently_."

"Oh, well next time, be sure to bring him," she said.

"I will," Yū nodded.

"So, a genin already. I hear that's a good way to a man's heart," Toki said, nodding to herself. "I'm ashamed I never took the chance to become one. I was too scared of going to fight in the war,"

"Life happens as it's meant to, Toki-oba-san. We shouldn't dwell too extremely on the past," Haru said.

Toki chuckled. "Oh, Haru-chan. You always know what to say to make me feel better. You remind me of my great-grandfather when he was still alive."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Well, comfortable for Toki and Haru, but not so much for Yū. She had to stop herself from fidgeting.

"You must go see Noriko soon, Haru-chan. I hear she got very sick," Toki said.

"We will do that today," Haru replied.

"Don't forget old man Haku," she added.

"We won't," Haru said.

"And say 'Hi' to little Sasuke for me," she said.

"I will," he nodded.

Another silence fell and Yū couldn't stop from fidgeting this time. Toki looked at her.

"Yū-chan, have you found a man yet?"

"Eh?" Yū was surprised by the question and blushed. "Not really."

"Oh? You have someone you're interested in, though?" Toki asked, seeing through the girl.

Yū scratched the back of her head. "I mean, he's already _involved_."

Toki chuckled. "Don't be silly. Men are always _involved_. They've got big hearts, though, so you just have to make a small corner for yourself and you'll be alright. With the war, anything can happen, so it's best not dilly dally."

"But the war's over," Yū said.

"Oh, my dear child, there's always war," Toki said, sadly.

"Well, when I'm Hokage there won't be," Yū muttered.

"Hokage?" Toki repeated and then chuckled. "That's a big dream, but you should leave the position to a strong man. I can't imagine a Hokage ever leading a happy life, much less a _woman_ Hokage being _actually_ happy. Besides, don't you want to get married and have children?"

"Maybe," Yū said a bit petulantly. "But I really want to be Hokage. If I get married, then it'd be like being the master while having a master over you at the same time."

"Oh, child," Toki said lovingly and she looked at Haru. "What do you say to that?"

"Whether one is a Hokage or one is not," Haru thoughtfully began. "I think we will always have masters over us. Rarely are they ever of our choosing. Many times they are of our own making. More times it is those with strength that dictate. Very little do we ever realise that the true master will never be _us_ , but it will also never be _them_."

Yū looked a bit cross-eyed at that.

"Ah, your monk-speech never gets old, Haru-chan," Toki said, chuckling. She looked back at Yū. "If you want to reach enlightenment, dear, you have to learn to let go. Rarely are our first desires and dreams ever truly what's best for us in the long run. It doesn't mean your desires or dreams never came true, but they may have evolved into something more beautiful and fulfilling. Or maybe not. Maybe you will have to let go and learn how to be happy with how things turned out."

"I don't really get it," Yū said, feeling a headache coming on.

Toki laughed. "Oh. When you get to my age, you'll quickly figure out that the only thing you ever knew for certain, is that you never _got_ anything and that you still don't _get it_. But you'll have seen a lot of patterns. Hmm, let me guess, you want to be Hokage and your role model is Mito-sama?"

"Who?" Yū asked in confusion.

"Hm? Tsunade-chan perhaps?" Toki tried again.

"Yeah, but I'll be greater," Yū said.

"Good girl. You've got the right idea about role models then. Don't ever be _like_ them," Toki said with a small nod. "Maybe you'll make a good Hokage. I only wish I could live to see the day. Just remember, if you dream about being Hokage, and you shout off the rooftops about being Hokage, then you don't deserve to be Hokage. Because you might get the position, but all the duties will be stacked on you because you're the one who wanted it. But if you never wanted the position and still get it, then people will actually work with you. Come here,"

Toki ushered Yū closer and the girl leaned forward.

"And between you and me," Toki whispered mischievously. "If you ever get married, I think you'll quickly find out just _who_ the master is and you'll figure out just _who_ the slow student is. Just get good at hiding that small fact, or nothing will work out your way. I'm certain Shinobi know best how to hide their most treasured skills and knowledge, and they know best when to use them. Use those abilities girl and you and your children will not only be happy, but content. Always remember, the Will of Fire treasures teamwork, because there's more than just one person involved and that fact makes a village."

Toki gave a snorting laugh, leaving Yū more confused than ever.

* * *

"Come back again!" Toki waved from her door.

"I will," Yū replied, waving back with a comfortable smile on her face.

They turned and started walking.

Yū gaved a contented sigh. "What a nice crazy old lady. I feel like I missed learning something at the Academy."

"We can't know everything, Yamanka-san," Haru said.

"Oh that's where you're totally wrong," she said, smirking at him while pointing at her head. "One day, I'm gonna have the power to literally _know_ everything,"

"Well," Haru said. "When that day comes, let me know how to make the sun rise from the west without killing every organism on this planet."

This stumped Yū for a moment causing her to stop walking. Then she ran to catch up. "That's simple, just get a lot of Chakra and cast a genjutsu over everyone."

"That is certainly one solution," Haru retorted. "But do you really want to cheat?"

"That's not cheating. It'd probably make a good prank,"

"Hn," Haru hid a smile with a hand. "I have been outdone."

* * *

"Have fun?" Dan's scroll voiced up ahead of them.

"Haha," Yū laughed and pointed at her friend. "'Death from high blood pressure' my ass. You're the one everyone should be focusing on,"

Dan looked at her, then his mask suddenly shifted like liquid and morphed into a half-mask that covered the bottom part of his face.

"You should have thought about that before we got to the door," she walked to him and roughly patted him on the shoulder. Then she looked back at Haru. "We can't all be geniuses now can we."

She walked off laughing, leaving Dan with his shoulders sagging.

Haru walked up the boy and looked up at him. "It really brings out your eyes, but it reminds of someone."

Haru then walked away.

In response, Dan slapped his hand on his own forehead and groaned.

* * *

The rest of that day, they went through the list of elderly and visited each one. They visited old man Haku who had no legs. They visited old man Taichi who had no arms. They also visited old lady Yoshie who had her skull bashed in during the battles before Konoha was founded.

At last, they reached the house of the last person on the list. An old woman called Noriko.

They knocked on the door and waited. Haru knocked twice more before stopping to think. He looked at Dan who seemingly understood. The boy phased through the door and came back out looking sick. He shook his head.

"No way," Yū said incredulously. "What the fuck are we supposed to do?"

A sigh came from behind them. Aoba stood there.

"Well, from time to time this happens. It's always unexpected," Aoba pulled out a scroll. "That's why the hospital gives us storage for the bodies. We just take them back to the hospital and they deal with the rest."

He then tossed a scroll to Yū. She gulped. "What the heck?"

"Seal the body up,"

"I'll do it Yamashiro-sensei," Haru spoke up.

Yū glared at Haru. "Shut up, I'll do it."

Haru nodded, but frowned.

Dan phased back into the door and opened it from the inside. The stench hit everyone, but Yū just held his breath and went inside.

_Worst fucking job ever!_

* * *

"I don't want to go on this mission ever again," Yū said as they walked away from Noriko's house.

"I can't promise that," Aoba said.

"Then let's never get the A-list again. Except for maybe Toki-baa-chan," she said back.

"That really depends on the order our team gets the mission. All the lists are split up and shared between multiple teams,"

"Whatever," Yū said and she placed her hands behind her head.

"Well, we've got one last person," Aoba said. "I'll go with you guys this time,"

"What?!" Yū whirled around and glared at her sensei. "I thought we did everyone on our list,"

"Well this one's special. He requested to be on this specific list and our team got him. It's a bit lucky."

"Who's crazy enough to do that?" Yū asked.

"I assure you, you won't be saying those words when you see him," Aoba replied with exasperation. He pushed his sunglasses up a bit.

* * *

"The Sarutobi compound?" Haru asked.

"Yes," Aoba replied.

He came up to a door and knocked.

A young man opened the door. A small, very wild, blonde-haired boy was sitting on his shoulders pulling at his hair. 

"What do you want Aoba? I'm kind of busy?" the young man said.

"Oh, hey Asuma. Kurenai wanted to propose to you, but got the jitters. She sent me with the marriage proposal instead,"

Asuma's face brightened with joy. "Really?"

"No," Aoba said flatly. "I brought my team,"

Asuma looked heart broken for a moment, then looked at the genin. He suddenly grew annoyed. "Don't tell me the old man put his name on _The List_ again."

"Um," Aoba started. "Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm certain Sandaime-sama is waiting for his little guests,"

Asuma blinked then paled as he whirled around to look at the person behind him, the blonde kid on his shoulders almost flying off, but seemingly having the time of his life.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stood in the hallway and chuckled. "Yes, please don't let this _old man_ wait for too long."

All the while, Yū stood in shock.

* * *

**To be continued.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Burdened Slave**

**Chapter 18**

* * *

Fugaku quietly observed Itachi as the boy gave an oral account of the disastrous mission. Itachi’s last remaining teammate and sensei stood behind him.

Itachi appeared to still be suffering from shock, but kept up a good mask that made him appear lifeless as he spoke. His father saw through it.

Fugaku didn’t need to listen to most of the report. Inu had reported two days before his son had returned. The Daimyo’s envoy was attacked. A number of nobles were killed along with one of his son’s teammates. The Daimyo himself was safe at his mansion within the village, having been escorted to Konoha from the capital by Itachi’s team.

He paid attention to one main detail from his son that Inu was unable to report on, and that was a description of the attacker. A man with an orange-coloured mask and one eye-hole. Fugaku was willing to bet the attacker had a Sharingan as well. However, his son did not confirm. 

When his son was finished speaking, Fugaku eyed Itachi’s remaining teammate.

_ She’ll be quitting. _ Fugaku saw all the signs and her future decisions were predictable to him.

ً _ The Anbu Cleaners posted at the Academy should be able to save whatever potential she has left. _

He tapped his paperless desk, he sent a small pulse of chakra into it. He then looked up at his son’s sensei. “You and the girl are dismissed. You know what to do from here.”

For a moment her sensei’s hand quivered, before he nodded. He gently took the girl’s shoulder and led her out.

She looked back one last time to catch Itachi’s eyes. The door closed.

His eyes settled on his son. “I sense the change in your chakra. You have activated the Sharingan. Show me.”

Itachi lowered his head and his hair shadowed his face. When he raised his head, his eyes were red. The first stage of the Sharingan activated.

Fugaku smiled. “You have done well, Itachi. I expect you to only become stronger from here on out.”

“Yes, Father,” Itachi replied emotionlessly. 

Fugaku stood up. 

“We will begin your lessons immediately,” he said. “Observe closely.”

Fugaku raised a single finger and pointed it at Itachi.

Suddenly the surroundings changed into complete darkness. Only the stars above them were visible. 

“Genjutsu,” Itachi observed.

“Indeed,” his father replied. His voice echoed from uncanny directions, although he stood in front of his son. “What else do you notice?”

Itachi looked around. “My Sharingan cannot see through this illusion.”

“And?” Fugaku pressed. 

Itachi frowned. “I do not understand what you wish me to see.”

“Only another Uchiha can cast an illusion so accurate that a less experienced mind is incapable of detecting it. It is also such an inexperienced mind that is incapable of realising it’s own contribution to the reality of an illusion. I do not control this reality. I only whisper and your mind does the rest.” Fugaku paused. “What did you not see?”

“You did not activate your Sharingan, Father,” Itachi replied.

“Correct,” Fugaku said, proudly. “To cast an illusion so complete, your target never knew the Sharingan was ever used. I expect of you to reach this level of skill.”

Itachi nodded. “Yes, Father.”

Out from the darkness around them, their house came into existence from wisps of smoke. Fugaku turned, opened the door, and walked in. Itachi followed. 

They reached Sasuke’s new room and stopped at the door. Inside, they both could see a copy of Itachi playing with Sasuke. Feelings of warmth and love invaded Itachi’s dark feelings.

“What is this?” Itachi asked quietly.

“The Uchiha who has activated his Sharingan is able to retain memory of every moment that they experience in full accuracy. Sight, smell, touch, emotion, and other aspects of experience. What is before you now is one of many moments in my experience. ”

Itachi nodded. 

“It is the superior Uchiha mind that enables this. The changes in our eyes are only a single expression of the physical and spiritual strength that we have inherited from the Sage of the Six Paths himself. It is the physical manifestation of the maturity of an Uchiha’s mind. As the mind matures, so too does the Sharingan.

“It is our ability to retain everything we experience that can make our Genjustu so powerful. But the more self-consciousness our targets are, the easier it will be for them to realise discrepancy. 

“For the Uchiha who has activated the Sharingan inside the illusion of another Uchiha, they will sense that their experience inside the illusion is lacking when compared to previously recorded personal experience, thus leading them to be able to see through the illusion. 

“For someone without the sharingan, the impossibility of perceiving the world with such accuracy conflicts with the bias their own minds introduces into the illusion causing them confusion. For some, they may have a feeling of being in a dream. For others, they may feel a sense of reality leaning towards the uncanny. Whatever it is, the more experienced the opponent, the more likely they will see through an illusion.

“For a skilled Uchiha, they would be able to continuously provide distraction for these feelings and ensure that the illusion lasts longer. For a truly talented Uchiha, the very experience of another being is open for their analysis which leads to the ability of completely emulating another being's experience. Thus, for an overwhelming amount of opponents, they will never be able to break the illusion because they never knew it was there.”

“I see,” Itachi said. “Then, all illusions can be seen through and broken.”

“There are illusions to which that rule does not apply. Illusions where reality is whatever the caster imagines it to be. Realities where trickery is unnecessary and where struggle is utterly futile. But that is a lesson for another time. 

“This specific illusion is one of the very basic Genjutsu that had been used since ancient times to share experience between members of our clan. When a powerful Uchiha returns from battle, they would use this illusion to add to our clan's vast generational experience that is passed down to every Uchiha clan-head from the elders, never to be forgotten. Eventually, the thoughts, dreams, feelings, and other aspects of individual experience of all Uchiha of every generation were recorded in this fashion and remains with us today. In time, I expect of you to grow capable of inheriting this.” Fugaku said, looking down at his son. 

“This concludes our lesson. Practice this illusion to perfection. You may utilise a reflective surface to cast this illusion on yourself and then you should cast this up small animals. Then return to show me the events of your mission, from beginning to end.”

Itachi nodded, and Fugaku disappeared. Itachi looked one last time into Sasuke’s room, the feeling of warmth and love still strong. He eventually disrupted his chakra and broke the illusion he was in. 

Fukagu was seated once more, and Itachi began to doubt whether his father had stood up in the first place.

“Dismissed,” Fugaku spoke.

Itachi bowed, then turned and walked to the door. Before he exited, his father spoke once again.

“I knew you would be alright, Itachi,” Fugaku said, trying to show his confidence in his son’s current skills.

Of course, Fugaku didn’t mention that he had been remotely tracking his son for the whole mission.

Itachi turned once again and bowed, before exiting.

_ ‘How touching _ ,’ Orochimaru spoke up.

Fugaku sighed. He was starting to regret some of his decisions.

He once more tapped his desk. His office was sealed from all evesdroppers. He tapped his desk again, and he spoke.

“Senju, do you have a solution yet?”

“Uchiha,” Senju Tobirama’s voice drawled condescendingly from an unknown output. “The more you bother me, the slower it will take me to complete this.”

Suddenly the connection was severed. Fugaku’s eyebrows twitched.

Orochimaru chuckled in his mind. 

_ ‘Fugaku,’ _

“What is it?” Fugaku asked out loud. 

_ ‘I’ve finished going through your memories.’  _

“Your point is what?”

_ ‘Give me five minutes with Hikoboshi’ _

Fugaku frowned. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t order my scientists to clone your mind and be done with you.”

Laughter rang throughout Fugaku's mind.

_ ‘I’m afraid you’d have to let me out of this seal first.’ _

“Hn.”

_ ‘It can wait. It was only out of mere curiosity that I asked,’  _ Orochimaru said.  _ ‘Now, let’s talk about our dear Daimyo. Your initiative is too weak. Sarutobi-sensei has you thinking too narrowly for this kind of endeavour. If this is the limit of your ambition, then much is left to be desired.’ _

* * *

Dan and Haru were painting a fence while Yū had ditched them some time in the beginning. She snickered to herself while she spied on them from up in a tree.

Since her team passed her sensei’s test, Inoichi had finally taught her the Mind-Body Switch technique. 

Now, she had been planning to take over Haru’s body and do some embarrassing things, but Yū changed her mind at the last moment and decided to use Dan. 

She snickered at the image of Dan and Haru kissing, and so she made the seal and concentrated. Her consciousness moved towards Dan and took control of him.

Haru, who had been finishing up with the post he was painting, suddenly stilled. He looked towards Dan who had frozen in place. The older boy then stood up and Haru narrowed his eyes. Then in a flash, Haru was at Dan’s side. The younger boy reached up and pulled Dan’s earlobe, causing the taller boy to bend slightly.

“Begone!” Haru suddenly shouted, and quite loudly. 

Dan suddenly jerked and his hand flew to his ear. His masked face turned to look at Haru.

“You have become the victim of possession by an entity,” Haru spoke seriously. “I will teach you about the being who originated everything. If you are in constant remembrance of him, there will be protection from entities possessing you and other evils of creation.”

Sensing something else, Haru stepped to the side to allow a rock to fly past him. 

“Get to work, shithead,” an angry Yū said, as she passed by them, stomping towards the fence and picking up a paintbrush.

Haru blinked and tilted his head.

* * *

“Well, that’s it for today,” Aoba said. “Good job on these missions, by the way.”

Haru and Dan nodded at the praise, while Yū’s mind seemed elsewhere.

“Well, you can take the rest of the day off,” Aoba said. “Over the next week we won’t be taking any new missions. Instead, we’ll be training and going over the protocols for when foreign delegations of shinobi visit this village.”

“Is this about the Kumo guys coming soon?” Yū asked, suddenly taking focus.

“Yes,” Aoba replied, nodding. “Hopefully there will be peace between our villages.”

All three of his students nodded. 

“Well, I have some things I need to do,” Aoba said, and disappeared in the wind.

“My uncle’s wife wanted me to invite you to our house to meet you,” Haru spoke up.

“No thanks. I’m going home,” Yū said, and walked off, giving a small wave. 

Haru looked towards Dan, who’s mask suddenly shifted to cover the lower half of his face to reveal once his eyes.

Quickly writing on his scroll, it spoke for Dan. “I’ve got nothing important to do. Lead the way.”

Haru nodded and started walking.

“Can you talk about that being you said originated everything?” Dan’s scroll asked.

Haru gave a small smile and proceeded to speak. It couldn’t have been more than twenty five steps before Haru finished his concise and straightforward description. But there was no awkward silence, only more questions from Dan. And so the path towards the Uchiha compound was filled with conversation.

* * *

Mikoto and Hana were in a room playing Go, when Mikoto suddenly paused and looked blankly in one direction.

“Is Sasuke awake?” Hanna asked.

Mikoto smiled and shook her head. “No. It seems Haru-chan brought one of his teammates. I think maybe Rin-sama’s child.”

A wave of sadness suddenly swept over both women, before Hana stood and smiled. “I’ll go get them settled, then.”

Hana swept out of the room and towards the front door. Before she made her presence known, she heard a voice that was soft and airy that could have belonged to a boy or a girl.

“So, just to see if I got this right. The evils of creation are only there for the good that comes out of them. And, the good may become immediately apparent, or may become known to us in time, or we may never know the reason for those evils in our lifetime. Right?”

“Yes,” Haru’s voice said. 

Hana looked around the corner and made her presence known. She saw a boy with a white mask in the style of Hatake’s kid. She recognised those eyes. The boy was seemingly writing notes with diligence. Her nephew, Haru, stood with a clam smile on his phase and his eyes sparkling with joy. 

Both children caught sight of Hana.

“I have returned, Mother,” Haru said. “This my teammate. Maboroshi Dan.”

Dan quickly rolled up his scrolls. And tucked one scroll next to a second scroll under his arm. He then bowed and another scroll fell out of his small vest’s pocket.

Hana covered her mouth as she chuckled. “I see you are the scholar type. I never thought I’d see the type outside of the Nara. Welcome, Dan-chan.”

Hana led her nephew and his teammate to a comfortable room. She set out some drinks and some sweats for them. Then let them be after telling them when dinner was.

She quickly checked on Sasuke, who was still asleep, then she returned to where Mikoto was and sat in front of the game.

“He looks just like his mother,” Hana stated, referring to Dan. 

Mikoto smiled. “I can’t wait to meet him. It’s a pleasant surprise. I’m going to have to change what I’m cooking tonight.”

She reached out and placed a stone on the board.

* * *

The fire Daimyo was seated on a very comfortable couch as he fanned himself. The man, who had small, circular, eyes and who wore his headpiece turned as the fifth Hokage entered and took a seat in front of him. The Daimyo had a sneaking feeling he experienced this moment before.

“I have been debriefed about the events of your journey. My condolences to the families of those who died,” Fugaku said.

“It was horrible,” the Daimyo said, shaking his head.

“Indeed,” Fugaku said. “I have proposal,”

“Let’s hear it,” the Daimyo replied.

“We have a new program at our Academy that has promising results. I propose you send your children, and have your court and nobles of the Capital send their children to us. We will put them through our program, and they will graduate stronger than you could possibly imagine.”

“Make our children shinobi?” the Daimyo spluttered. “That is outrageous!”

“They will graduate as the leaders of tomorrow,” Fugaku pushed. “They will be the enlightened ones, leading our world into an era of peace. I believe you know what is best.”

“How do you expect my court to accept this?” the Daimyo asked.

Fugaku smiled. “All those who dissent will come to see the light.”

* * *

In the Daimyo’s mansion late at night, there was no light. The Daimyo was seated motionless on his bed. His overweight wife snoring next to him. His blankets covering his legs. His pajamas had a striped design and were very expensive. He sat frozen as he stared blankly at his windowsill. 

On it stood a small crow. It’s eyes glowing red. Three dots followed by three curves spiralling counter-clockwise around the pupil. 

A conversation repeated again and again, with hidden whispers and suggestions, until the Daimyo saw the light.


End file.
